Dude Perfect ($0.99 iPhone, $1.99 iPad) is a sports game of sorts. There is a basketball, there is a net, and the goal is to get the basketball through the net. The difference here is that rather than scoring points for getting the ball through the net, you score points for hitting everything else on the screen except the net.

The dynamics of throwing the ball are as simple as choosing a direction and deciding how hard to throw. Anywhere you tap on the screen will engage the throwing mechanics of the game. Drag your finger in the opposite direction you want to throw as if you are pulling back a slingshot. Lift your finger from the screen and the ball is off.  The important thing to remember is that you don’t have to start the shot by touching the ball on the screen.  Tapping anywhere on the screen will start the shot.  This is good to know as many times the player is situated near the edge of the screen.

Clouds, buildings, trucks, balloons, fences and even flying saucers. There are all sorts of obstacles you can use to rack up your score as you make one amazing shot after another. The game was inspired by the real world YouTube sensation of the same name. A series of videos depicting amazing shots that include outrageous bank shots and bouncing the ball off all sorts of objects.  Watching the videos you get a sense that the game is not too far removed from reality.  Except perhaps shots involving bouncing the ball off of alien spacecraft.

There are over 80 different levels to play in seven different themed settings. Basics, Backyard, Ranch, Camp, Amusement Park, City and Space. Each theme has different obstacles that you can use to make your shot earn higher scores. You can also choose which of five different players to use to make your shot with. Each player has their own style and abilities. The twins, as an example, can be used to pass the ball before making a shot.  Keeping things interesting, you can also choose between a basketball, bowling ball or beach ball to throw. As you can guess, neither the bowling ball nor the beach ball have the same aerodynamic characteristics as the basketball. While you may get lucky with a power throw using the basketball and hoping it will eventually bounce in, the bowling ball in particular is not as forgiving.

Multiplayer has two different modes. The first multiplayer mode is for challenges between you and a friend with only one device.  This requires you to pass the one device back and forth between you and your friend.  You each then take turns making shots to see who ends up with the highest score. The second multiplayer game mode is a wireless mode where you can challenge your online GameCenter friends.  You can even let the game set up a quick auto match for you.

Through in-app purchases you can acquire additional payers, unlock all of the levels, and even enable a feature that allows you to create your own custom levels. While skill can keep you advancing in the game, and the included characters have the skills necessary to play any of the levels, the one in-app purchase you have to buy is the level editor.  Like the actual Dude Perfect Team, this is where you can plan and set up your own crazy shots.  You create your own custom levels on any one of the themed settings. You simply go through a series of edit modes where you choose where to place the basket, how to position the player and ultimately the number of objects you want to place on the screen to bounce your shots off of.

The cartoon-styled graphics of this game are well drawn and colorful.  While some of the challenges seem impossible at first, it is the rush of actually completing a difficult shot that keeps you coming back for more.

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Skylanders Cloud Patrol ($1.99, Universal) is a carnival-style shooting game where you tap to shoot at your target to win coins. The targets you are shooting at are mischievous trolls that have broken out of prison.

In this game you play one of a number of different Skylanders. As a Skylander you are responsible for hunting down and eliminating the escaped trolls. To shoot a troll, or anything else for that matter, you simply tap on the screen at the target you want to hit. You can also swipe your finger up, down, across and in a variety of pattern to lock on to a series of targets in quick succession. When shooting in such a manner, the game has the same interactive feel as Fruit Ninja. And like Fruit Ninja there are targets on the screen, in this case mines, that you must avoid shooting at all costs. If you shoot and hit a mine, it will explode and end the game.

As you progress through the game you are presented with a never-ending series of targets at which to aim. Each collection of targets are laid out like individual levels. After you successfully hit all of the targets on a given level, you will be flown to the next level in the cloud and presented with a new collection of targets. These targets can be barrels, boxes, balloons, presents, sheep (yes, sheep) and of course trolls. Things do get progressively difficult as the targets you are aiming to hit do not stay in one place.

The trolls will hide behind shields, duck under rocks and even fly around the screen using propeller caps. It really does resemble a carnival-style shooting game. Some of the trolls are armed with weapons that they will use to shoot at you. You must shoot down the projectiles aimed at you before they get too close and kill your Skylander.

Swirling around the screen intermixed with the trolls are the mines.  The mines always seem to change their pattern and place themselves right in front of a troll as you are tapping on the screen to shoot. There are also magical power-ups, crates packed with explosives that will kill all visible trolls on the screen, and golden coins that you can tap on to collect. When you do finally get overwhelmed and either shoot a mine or get shot by a troll, the game will end. Your score will be tallied, coins will be counted and you will be awarded gems for each of the posted achievements you have accomplished.

The coins and gems collected can be used to buy magic items as well as different Skylanders.  The magic items can be used while playing the game to give you an advantage over the trolls you are shooting.  However, switching out your Skylander for a more powerful Skylander with special abilities can really make a difference in how well you perform.  Between each level, there are in-app purchases where you can buy more gems.  The gems can be traded for gold coins.  This can certainly help you power-up at a faster rate by enabling you to achieve your goals faster.

What really sets the game apart however is that you can also make out-of-app purchases.  This is actually the main reason that the entire Skylander series of games exists.  By purchasing real toy models of the Skylanders at your local toy or hobby store, you can use the web activation code that comes with the toy model to unlock its corresponding Skylander character within the game itself.  Through earning gems and coins in the game, buying gems and coins through iTunes in-app purchase, or buying toy models at a retail store, you can grow your Skylander army.

Rather than exclusively use Apple’s GameCenter, Skylanders also utilizes Activision’s online gamers community, Activate. With Activate you can save game progress and challenge your Activate friends to various Showdowns.  These Showdowns are like goals, and if you win the Showdown you will be awarded with gems and coins.  The interaction between the game and Activate is smooth and reliable.  This weekend is as good a time as any to Activate an Activision online gaming account and start hunting trolls.

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Gravity Hook HD ($0.99, Universal) is a high scoring arcade-style game that is more challenging than it may first appear. If there were such a genre for side-scrolling puzzle games, this game would define that genre. Except for one minor detail: it’s vertical.

In Gravity Hook, your robot shoots out a grappling hook towards an orb that you believe is stable enough to propel the robot upward. The problem is that the orb is not attached to anything. As the robot is pulled closer to the orb, the orb is getting pulled closer to the robot.  Gameplay is simple enough to get the hang of — just tap on the orb you want to attach the hook to and the robot shoots its hook at that orb. As the robot moves upward, more orbs become visible for you to grab on to. When you select a new orb, the robot releases the hook from the orb it is currently attached to and fires the hook to the new orb.

Sounds simple enough, but there is one slight catch. The closer the robot is to an orb when it gets attached, the faster the robot moves toward it. So fast, in fact, that the robot can use the momentum to fling itself up even higher. The opposite has its ill effects as well: the farther away the robot is from an orb when it gets attached, the slower the robot moves toward it. If the robot happens to be too far away at the time it gets attached, it will fall further away from the orb rather than get closer. You can, however, attempt to recover from choosing an object that was too far away by targeting a closer object. The problem is that your downward momentum is often times too much for the cable to handle. Extending the cable between the robot and the orb too much will cause it to snap. With no cable to cast out, the robot will fall, crashing downward and ending the game.

The orbs themselves have different properties as well. The farther up you go, the more complex the choices get. Toward the bottom of the game, the green orbs you grapple on to are quite benign and easy enough to get the hang of. The blue orbs on the other hand turn into mines as soon as you attach to them. When attached, a timer starts counting down. Detaching from the blue orbs stops the timer. If you stay attached too long and end up bumping into the blue orbs as you get pulled closer to them, the blue orb will explode and destroy the robot in the process.

The gray orbs are chained to one another and will quickly break free. Once free from the other gray orbs, they begin to plummet toward the ground. Staying attached to them for too long and the robot will be pulled to the ground with them. And the red orbs, lets just say you need to avoid those at all costs. With all of the objects the idea is basically the same, don’t stay too attached to any one object for too long.  Use your momentum to propel the robot upward to the next collection of orbs.

There is a classic play mode as well. I found the classic mode to be much more challenging than the normal play mode. So you might want to get the hang of things in the HD version before you try out the classic eight-bit version. The first rendition of the game was originally inspired by a program that was use to teach students how to type if you can imagine that.  Whichever version you feel more comfortable playing, this is the weekend to grab hold of Gravity Hook.

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Star Command ($2.99, Universal) is a mission-based space game where you are responsible for the safety and well-being of your ship and its crew. However, as captain, your primary objective is to stay alive. This is a game where the ship goes down with its captain.

From the very start, you spend a series of colored tokens to add different types rooms and crew members to your ship. The more rooms you have, the more crew you will need to operate these rooms. Each colored token represents a different capability.  Red represents tactical for your weapons room and security team.  Next is blue; it represents science, this is for your medical team.  Finally there is yellow, which represents engineering.  Striking a balance between the three is essential as the game progresses.  With no in-app purchases to bankroll a fully manned ship, you must earn your tokens as you travel through the galaxy by completing a series of missions.

The ship you start with is basically empty. You need to add weapons, engineering, and medical rooms. Each room will cost you three tokens. Hiring crew members is your responsibility as well. Crew members can only be added on earth and will cost you one token each.  When it come to weapons on board the ship, each crew member wearing a red uniform is equipped with a standard issue laser pistol.  Once your ship is built and your crew is on board, you are ready to take on your first mission.

Throughout the game you will encounter alien battles both in space with ship-versus-ship combat, as well as on the board with crew-to-crew combat. In ship-to-ship combat you can only use the weapons and defenses from rooms that have crew members assigned to them. You only fire your weapons when they are fully charged. Once charged, each weapon has its own mini game you need to play in order to get the weapon to fire and hit its target. These mini games only take a few seconds to play and look like something you would expect to see on the console of a weapon’s targeting system.  As the battle progresses, your attention is focused on when the enemy is about to fire, what levels the enemy’s shields and hull integrity are at, and how long it takes your ship’s weapons to fully charge.  There are enough things going on all at once to keep you on edge.

In crew-to-crew combat, enemy aliens teleport onto your ship and start tearing it apart from the inside. You will have to hunt them down and destroy them before they kill all of your crew. Situating your security team a safe distance from the intruders, you find that you are constantly adjusting their position to keep them from getting overrun. You also need to reposition your teams when more aliens teleport onto your ship. If you are fortunate enough to have a medical room staffed with the necessary personnel, you will also start rotating your security teams in and out of the infirmary as they get hurt. When moving your crew around to fight the alien invaders, be sure not to leave one of the ship’s critical weapons rooms understaffed, or else you will leave your ship more vulnerable to attack.

The rooms on your ship can be upgraded, as can the crew members. At the end of each victory, you will be awarded tokens, which can be used to hire more crew members, add new rooms, or upgrade existing rooms. Also at the end of each victorious battle, each crew member that played a role in the battle will earn experience points based on what action they took in the battle.

There is a lot going on with each battle. While you are managing each crew member individually, you are also keeping track of each weapon to see when they are fully charged and ready to fire. At the same time you are also need to pay attention to the enemy’s weapon system in order to try to dodge an attack at just the right time.  Leaving a fully charged weapon sit idle too long, missing an opportunity to dodge an attack, or allowing just one crew member lose too many health points in a shootout could be the difference between winning or losing the battle.  If you feel like you are up to the challenge this weekend then consider joining Star Command as captain of your own ship.

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Girls Like Robots ($2.99, Universal) is a puzzle game where the pieces of the puzzle each have their own likes and dislikes. In this game, the nerds like robots too, but that is not the problem. The problem is that the girls do not like the nerds.

Oddly enough, the nerds don’t like other nerds either. About the only puzzle piece that can tolerate a nerd is a robot. It is these very basic social rules that lay the foundation of the game. The playing board is laid out in a grid of squares, with each piece occupying a square on the grid.  Each puzzle piece can be happy, mad or indifferent.  The score you earn is based on how many puzzle pieces on the board you make happy. When every piece on the board is happy you earn the maximum points allowed for that board.

From these simple beginnings a truly complex series of challenges await. Of course the size and dimensions of each board can change. But with certain levels there are already immovable pieces placed on the board that you have to contend with. Once a piece is played you cannot move it. There is an undo that allows you to keep undoing your previous moves one at a time. Or if you prefer, you can reset the entire board and start all over again.

As the levels progress, additional player pieces are introduced. Each new piece has its own set of likes and dislikes. There are even girls who like bugs in this game. What makes the game interesting is that each player piece has a personality, and a part to play in the storyline.  If you ever forget who likes who, you can always tap and hold on each player piece to see a cheat sheet outlining its interests. There is also a heart on the screen that you can press to see how the pieces you have already played on the board like each other. Green indicates a positive relationship and red a negative one.

Some levels play out like a game of solitaire where you decide which piece is played where and when. In the earlier levels you can even see the count of pieces you have remaining. And, a s things progress, some levels present you with the exact order the pieces must be played in what can best be described as a sort of Tetris-style of gameplay. On these levels, you only know what piece is coming next.  There are levels where the pieces are moving, and you must box in these pieces in order to keep them from moving about.  These variations are what make each new level a challenge to complete.

There are three different acts to play out as well as a series of bonus levels. Each act is unlocked as you complete earlier acts. Within the acts there are over 100 levels with their own  unique story to tell, which helps explain the rules for completing that level. For instance, you may be responsible for keeping a space next to June in the cafeteria so that Ben can sit next to her.  Ben wants to ask June to go with him to the upcoming school dance.  Or you may need to situate a robot between Ben and the other girls, as Ben has become quite excited to get to the dance.

With each level played, there is a thermometer that rates the total happiness of all of the pieces on the board. The more pieces that are happy, the higher the thermometer rises. Once all of the pieces are played, a final score is tallied and you are awarded from one to three happiness points. These points are collected in your Bag of Happiness.  The bonus levels — or challenges as they are called — are unlocked when you earn enough happiness points in your Bag of Happiness.

As you get familiar with each of the characters in the game, you begin to look forward to learning what comes next in the story.  As challenging as the puzzles can become, the story continues to string them all together into the three acts of a play.  Each obstacle, additional character or new aspect to the game can be associated directly with a twist in the main plot of the story.

So this weekend you should set aside time to come to understand exactly why Girls Like Robots better than Nerds.

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Repulze ($2.99 Universal) is more than a racing game with insanely fast courses, upgradable hovercraft and challenging obstacles — and those hovercraft are equipped with weapons.  In what plays out as a roller derby style of fighting, you can either race ahead and avoid the fight entirely, or lag behind and take your opponents out one at a time.

There are three different control settings to choose from. The first set of controls are easy enough to understand: tap right to go right and tap left to go left. There is also a tilt-to-steer setting that uses the device’s accelerometer and a back-and-forth slider control that is accessed in the center of the screen. Going right or left is the easy part, what takes a little getting used to is the fast-paced graphics and knowing exactly when and how far to go to the right or to the left in order to maximize your speed potential.

Each course will take a few passes to learn where the obstacles and various power-ups are located. Along the tracks are energy gates that you pass through in order to gain energy during the race.  These energy gates are color-coded indicating their polarity. Your hovercraft switches between red and green energy polarity throughout the race.  When your hovercraft requires red energy, it is important that you avoid the green energy gates. If you happen to hit the wrong color energy gate, your speed will decrease. Hitting three consecutive power gates of the same color earns you a booster. This adds to the challenge of each as achieving some of the more demanding record times requires you to earn every possible booster in the race, without hitting the wrong color power gate even once.

There are three different phases to choose from when you start the game. Phase One is considered the boot camp level. There are nine gravity-defying tracks and six hovercraft to choose from. Here your biggest challenge is to avoid hitting the walls while going as fast as you can. This is a great place to start as you can get familiar with the various hovercraft and get into the groove of the game’s racing style.  In Phase Two the game introduces Wildcard Gates and Toolkits. Wildcard Gates instantly grant you a power booster and change your hovercraft polarity. Toolkits are collected and spent to power up your hovercraft. In Phase Two additional vehicles are on the track as well.  Phase Two is basically an advanced version of Phase One, with new tracks to explore.

Phase Three is where your hovercraft gains weapons and the additional vehicles on the track are hostile. With plasma canons and rocket batteries your hovercraft becomes an instrument of destruction. There are no additional controls to learn as your weapons have an automatic targeting system. You just need to control your hovercraft and keep it steady long enough for the targeting system to lock on to its target.  You are also warned when an enemy hovercraft has you in its sights.  Your screen starts flashing red, alarms go off, and if you don’t respond quickly to the threat, you may get incinerated.

As you win more races, you will increase in rank and earn badges.  Your rank determines which hovercraft you can use and your badges unlock additional tracks.  Each hovercraft is upgradable as well. You spend the Toolkits you collect.  The power ripper power up is the only power-up available in Phase One and Two, as they are not battle courses.  In Phase Three, you have access to the Plasma Canon and Rocket Battery power-ups.

The graphics are extremely smooth for a racing game that moves so fast.  The gravity-defying tracks that the hovercraft races on really add depth to how you approach each track.  Keeping your hovercraft from bumping into the walls while at the same time earning the much-needed energy gates makes each course a real challenge to master.  This weekend is a good time to brush up on your hovercraft skills, and take on the challenge of battling other hovercraft in the futuristic world that is Repulze.

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He-Man: He-Man: The Most Powerful Game in the Universe (Free, Universal) is an arcade-style game based on the classic 80s cartoon hero He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Skeletor is up to his old tricks and manages to steal He-Man’s key to castle Grayskull. It is up to you to get it back.

Sliding your left thumb back and forth controls which direction He-Man is moving. Tapping on the right side of the screen will attack and a quick swipe up on the right side of the screen will cause He-Man to jump. A double swipe results in a double jump.  After you jump you can continuously attack while in the air. Attacking in  such a manner will keep you floating until the attack has completed.  This is a helpful trick as enemies can come at you from both sides, while you can only attack one side at a time.

Throughout the game you collect crystals that can be used to purchase power ups in the in game’s store on Ethernia, He-Man’s home world. These power ups vary in strength and cost.  When it comes to the combat upgrades for He-Man in particular, there is the overhead combo, the tornado spin, arial smash, thunder punch, axe throw and power slice.  Each one of these special skills can be used to help defeat He-Man’s enemies on various levels throughout the game.

Chasing Skeletor throughout seven areas of Eternia, He-Man faces several different foes from the cartoon series on each of the 27 different levels. There are huge boss fights that are more challenging to fight than the common foes you face along your journey.  The levels themselves get more challenging and puzzle-like as well.  Fireballs come crashing down upon you, traps try to crush you and lava pits try to drown you.  Getting your timing right and figuring out when to attack becomes a key element in gameplay — so much so that saving up 20,000 crystals in order to purchase the Strength of Eternia is well worth it.  Do you suffer an attack or risk getting killed by the trap?  The Strength of Eternia will give you an extra heart container and raise the combo multiplier to five times.  It is the most well-rounded upgrade available in the store.

Once you feel like you are the master of this game’s universe, you can switch characters and start the game all over again as She-Ra, He-Man’s twin sister. One thing you will notice right away is that She-Ra can jump much higher than He-Man in the earlier levels, to the extent that hidden passages and extra gems are much easier to obtain when playing as She-Ra.  The controls respond a little differently as she is a bit quicker and more responsive. She-Ra also has a different collection of power up skills that she can use: a glitter wave, honor dodge, air dance, power thrust and stiletto stomp atr her combat upgrades.  Her style of fighting can affect the way you approach certain levels.

When you do happen to die you will be introduced to Orko’s Game of Chance.  Orko is a magical character that helps out He-Man and She-Ra from time to time.  The most common way Orko helps out is by bringing you back to life at the very spot you ended up dying.  If you are lucky, you will be granted Battle Armor or a Gem Pack that you can utilize more effectively in the game.

Knowledge of the cartoon series is not required to enjoy this game, but does add a better understanding to the characters’ interactions with one another. It is interesting how the two main characters, He-Man and She-Ra, really do change how you play the game based on their unique set of power ups and abilities.  This is a great game if you are looking for a platform-based, arcade-style game and, of course, 1980s cartoon heroes.

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Block Fortress ($1.99, Universal) is a mix of tower defense and first person shooter style games where you must create your own fortress to defend.  As if defending a fortress is not challenging enough already, you must also collect rare minerals to craft better and stronger defenses to use while protecting your fortress.  This game will push your warrior, engineering and crafting skills to their limits.

When building up your defenses, you can fly around the environment putting the various elements and materials in place. This helps you survey the land to determine where the most defensible position is, as well as check out your fortress before you go to battle.  The left side of the screen is a virtual d-pad for strafing left and right as well as moving forward and backward. When designing your fortress, on the right side of the screen are two arrows that allow you to fly by controlling you movement up and down. However, when you are battling the enemy and defending your fortress, you are not able to fly over your opponents as you remain firmly on the ground. Also when battling, your player will be equipped with a weapon and a red fire button will appear on the right side of the screen replacing the up and down flying buttons. You look around as well as turn directions when walking or running by dragging your finger across the screen.

In this game your barracks is your home base that you must defend.  If destroyed, the game is over.  Placing your barracks in a defendable position and building up a fortress to defend them is more than half the fun of the game. More than just your creative building skills will be used as you must think about how the enemy will attack your fortress; there are over 30 different building blocks to choose from, each with their own characteristics, strengths and costs. You will choose between different types of wood, stone and steel materials when you build your defenses. The weapons you mount on your turrets have their own characteristics as well: each has a different range and will inflict varying amounts of damage. Some weapons will require mounting an accompanying spotlight when fighting at night. You are also responsible for placing power blocks and boosters around your fortress in order to supply your weapons with the energy they need to operate.

Your fortress is not the only thing that needs to be well equipped to fight off the enemy. Being a first person shooter as well, your avatar also needs to suit up for battle. For the most part, this involves selection of various hand weapons that you will use to take out individual attacking units on the battlefield.  As you continue to play the game, you will see that your avatar levels up and unlocks additional weapons, armor and tools.

There are three main gaming modes to choose from. Survival is the most difficult of the three as you must gather the minerals you need in order to build up your defenses. There is no pause button in survival mode. In Quickstart mode, you are given enough resources to build a defendable fortress. When the game begins you are given time to build these defenses before starting the battle. With the Sandbox mode of gameplay, you have an unlimited supply of resources and you can start and stop the battle whenever you need to in order to readjust your strategy. Sandbox is a great mode to get started with, as you can work your way of to playing in Survival mode.

You can also choose where on the map of a fairly large region you would like to set up your barracks. Green Hills, Jungle, Snowy Hills, Rocky Mountains, Tropical Islands and Tidal Cliffs are the terrains you have to choose from. Each terrain has a set of minerals that are more common in that area of the map. The Jungle and Green Hills, for instance, have an abundance of rare green minerals. If you don’t want to choose where you start, there is a random setting that will pick the terrain for you.  It is important that you play in different locations in order to collect minerals from each region.

As you accumulate these minerals, you can use them to create crafting mods that will permanently upgrade your blocks, weapons and equipment. Each resource you use to build up your defenses and equip your avatar for battle can be upgraded. The more minerals you collect in each of the different regions, the more you can upgrade your favorite gear.

There is certainly a lot going on within this game.  The 3D environment you play, while not the most stunning graphically, does captivate you.  The landscape you have to work with is very large, and you are free to roam around while your fortress is being invaded.  You are even able to save your creations so you can modify them and tweak them in order to get your strategy down to a science.  So this weekend find a secure location in your household and prepare to defend it, because you will be spending a lot of time playing Block Fortress.

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Blueprint 3D ($0.99 iPhone, $2.99 iPad) is a three-dimensional puzzle game where you construct two-dimensional pictures. It is the sort of puzzle game that you really need to have a knack for gaining the proper perspective on things.

Think crop circles and wheat fields. Imagine standing on the ground on the middle of a wheat field.  You can’t really see what you are standing in, it just looks like flattened grass. If you are familiar with the anamorphic sculptures of artist Jonty Hurwitz, like the The Thinker on display in the lobby of Tower 42 in London, then you start to understand how Blueprint 3D works. There are collections of lines, marks and dashes arranged in three-dimensional space, that when viewed from exactly the correct position, reveal a two-dimensional drawing. The trick is finding the proper perspective in order to see the drawing.

The mechanics of this puzzle game are straightforward. The way things move on the screen is similar to how they move in a 3D drawing tool. You can rotate and spin the object in every possible diction; it’s very similar in fact to how Google Earth can pitch, roll and rotate planet Earth in order to see various locations. Use one finger to spin the objects into the screen, and use two fingers to rotate the objects on the screen.  The image you start out with can be inverted, tilted and flipped over backwards.  It’s up to you to figure out just how to move things around, in order to reveal what the image truly is.

There are three difficulty settings for each level, and they do make things much more challenging. What makes the Normal setting somewhat easy to complete is the fact that there are words, equations and numbers on many of the diagrams that you will tend to focus on. Lining up letters to make up common words is a whole lot easier than trying to figure out what shape a bunch of random lines makes.  As you move on to Advanced, you lose these visual cues and are forced to figure out the actual shape. With the Pro setting, the various line segments are broken into different layers that must be moved into place individually. This proves to be much more difficult as you are challenged to figure out what you are looking at by manipulating only one part of the picture at a time.

There are over 300 levels to play that are organized into 11 themes. As you start to get the hang of the game, you will start to race through each level in a minute or two, especially in Normal difficulty. You may want to challenge yourself by playing either Advanced or Pro difficulty before you gain familiarity with the objects in Normal difficulty.  If you cannot figure out what the picture is in Pro before the timer runs out, then decrease the difficulty to Advanced, start the timer over again, and see if it is any easier.  Only when you cannot figure out how to solve the puzzle in Advanced difficulty, should you then try it out in Normal difficulty.  This seems to be backwards, but I found this method of play to be much more challenging.

What makes this game truly amazing is the fact that you can create your own levels from photos in your library or ones you take in the game with the camera. Each image is processed much like a photo is turned into a drawing or a cartoon character with other apps available in the App Store. There are some basic slider controls that allow you to tweak the look of the final design.  You can even touch up the final image by erasing what does not belong. When finished, you then choose the background theme and save your levels locally.  After you play the level yourself, you can share it online via email, Facebook or Twitter.

I had some fun creating levels based off of designs used in patents Apple has submitted. One of my favorites was a design Apple used for the famous glass staircase used in its retail stores. You can of course use the designs of your own house car or workplace.  You can even try it out with the artwork created by children (it works best with line drawings).  So take some time this weekend and look at the objects in your life from a different perspective.

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Vector ($0.99 iPhone, $0.99 iPad) is a side-scrolling runner that mimics the street gymnastics of modern day free running. Given the fact that the character in the game is attempting to free himself from a mind controlling regime, there is more of the philosophy of parkour, which is free running with the intent of expressing your own freedom, at play here.

As a practitioner of parkour, your traceur as they are referred to, starts every level running from the authorities. As obstacles present themselves, you have to decide how you want to get around them. For instance, there is a water tower obstacle in the game that you can either jump up and climb over, or slide under from a distance. Sliding under the water tower is quicker, and helps increase your distance from the authorities that are chasing you. Jumping up and climbing over the water tower on the other hand could allow you to grab extra coins that may be stashed atop the water tower. It’s up to you how you approach each obstacle.

There are two major environments to choose from, with a third new environment on its way via a future update. Each environment has 57 levels to complete. There is a countdown timer on each level where the faster you complete each level, the faster you earn your stars. These stars are important as they unlock various elements throughout the game. The second environment, Construction Yard, will only unlock when you earn 25 stars in the first environment, Downtown. With each level giving up a maximum of three stars, you will need to complete at least seven levels Downtown before you can take a chance on jumping into the Construction Yard.

Along the way you also collect coins that can be used to increase your character’s abilities. You can purchase gadgets, tricks and gear with these coins. The gadgets can buy you extra time, slow things down to help you perform difficult combinations, and even stun the authorities when they get too close.  Don’t be too quick to purchase a hoard of coins through the in-app purchase, as many of the items you will want to purchase are only unlocked when you achieve a certain number of stars in each environment.  The game does truly reward your skill rather than block you from advancing until you pay.

Increasing your character’s abilities is important as each level requires a different skillset. If you do not have a skill, you are offered a chance to purchase the skill at the beginning of the level. If you do not have enough coins, you can either go back and try to improve your score and earn more coins on previous levels, or make your way to the store to purchase more.  I have tried completing levels without all of the necessary skills just to see what would happen, and it ended up being much more challenging than I expected.  After gaining the recommended skill I was missing, passing the level was much easier.

Stars are also used in the game to unlock bonus levels. Each of the 57 levels in each environment also has an accompanying bonus level.  After achieving the right number of stars, previous levels you have already completed unlock their bonus levels. This is a great way to go back and play previous levels and collect some more stars and earn some extra coins.  You never really can play each level exactly the same way, so going back to play earlier levels with newly acquired skills can be more fun the second time.

The opening cut scene looks like it is taken from Apple’s famous 1984 commercial with a single authority figure speaking to a mindless society. While the backstory explaining why you are running is a nice addition to a game of this genre, it is the variations you can apply to your jumps that keeps the gameplay interesting.  You will play Vector this weekend, you will enjoy playing Vector this weekend, everything has already been thought of for you, you have no choice.

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• How do developers ride the Siri wave?
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• Access vs. ownership: Why UltraViolet has already lost