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October 28, 2009 7:35 AM PDT

A tale of two iPhone puzzle games

by Rick Broida
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Connected's pipe-arranging puzzles are like potato chips: Bet you can't play just one.

A few weeks ago, I received e-mails from two developers within the space of about two hours. Each was pitching a new, "totally unique" puzzle game, and would I like to review them?

Now, I'm a sucker for puzzlers, especially on the iPhone, but the App Store is already teeming with them--each one claiming to be "original," "addictive," "brain-teasing," and so on. How truly unique could either of these newcomers be?

The first one, Connected, instantly reminded me of countless lay-the-pipe-before-the-water-escapes games--until I started playing it.

Connected does involve pipes, but here you're not fighting the clock (or the water). Instead, you merely have to figure out the proper arrangement of preselected pieces, which can be moved but not rotated.

It's a bit like Traffic Jam, but damn if it doesn't manage to be original, challenging, and insidiously addictive. With each level I somehow managed to complete, I told myself, "Just one more."

Add to it an elegant, simple interface and you've got 99 cents extremely well-spent.

The other game, Wriggle, also costs 99 cents--but there's a try-before-you-buy free version as well.

Great for kids but fun for anybody, Wriggle puts a great twist on block-sliding puzzles.

At first glance, Wriggle looks like a kids game--but don't let that fool you. While kids will undoubtedly enjoy the colorful, smiley-faced worms, there's plenty of challenge here for all ages.

Your goal is to help the blue worm escape the maze in as few moves as possible. This is done by dragging the heads and/or tails of the various worms that stand in his way.

Again, you can see elements of Traffic Jam, but that game doesn't go around corners. Wriggle does, and, like Connected, it comes across as a wholly unique kind of puzzle.

Wriggle also offers a bit more replay value, with four difficulty levels and the option of replaying any puzzle to see if you can win in fewer moves. You can even tweet your progress, if you're into that kind of thing.

Initially, I judged both games by their covers (make that screenshots), and that was a mistake. Connected and Wriggle are perfectly priced and perfectly entertaining. I highly recommend both.

Seen any unique puzzle games lately? Are there any you just can't put down? Share your puzzle faves in the comments. In the meantime, check out these five perfect puzzle games for the iPhone.

Rick Broida, a technology writer for nearly 20 years, is the author of more than a dozen books. In addition to writing CNET's The Cheapskate blog, he oversees BNET's Business Hacks. Rick is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CBS Interactive. Disclosure. Deals found on The Cheapskate are subject to availability, expiration, and other terms determined by sellers. Follow Rick on Twitter at cheapskateblog.
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by mighty7sd October 28, 2009 8:52 AM PDT
I highly recommend Fling (99 cents with a free version as well). I usually tire of puzzle games once I beat the levels, but I am still trying to beat this game, and since the levels look so similar, there is no way I can remember how to beat them (so it has infinite replay value). I also really like Boxed In, but once I beat the game I don't tend to play it.
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by Save_XP October 28, 2009 12:37 PM PDT
My current faves:
Flood-It! (has free version)
Fling (also a free version)
iFlip Pro (totally free)
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by davviau October 29, 2009 2:35 AM PDT
I'm liking Geared. It has a free version as well. You connect cogs from a moving cog to make another cog move. The cogs are different sizes and so only fit on the screen in a set combination. Can be quite challenging.
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by crazygamer2 November 5, 2009 1:11 AM PST
You should try CashMachine, really the most addictive puzzle game I have played so far.
This is not a lite version, this is the full game.
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by Rludbf December 8, 2009 8:35 AM PST
They all claim to be Unique, but almost all are a variation on an old puzzle design.

I like ROŽ.

It is a "Unique" variation on the old Slide puzzle, but it does so using offset rotating rings.
You select a ring and rotate it to re-align a image, but the challenge is that other rings will rotate at the same time. There is a pattern to these rotations, and once you figure that out, the puzzles are easier to solve. Still, it has 20 levels, each progressively more challenging.

Totally addictive, easy to put down and restart where you left off.

There is a free Lite version with the first five puzzles too, ROŽ Lite.
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by agreenizan December 8, 2009 9:50 AM PST
You should try out Word Burst, i've gotten myself pretty addicted. It's kind of like bejeweled except instead of matching up colours you spell out different words to get points, and different letters are worth more points then others. Every word i've tried to spell so far has been accepted, and if you get stuck they have a shuffle button to help out. The game is timed so you need to beat the clock to beat the high scores.
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