Long read: The beauty and drama of video games and their clouds

"It's a little bit hard to work out without knowing the altitude of that dragon..."

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Mobile Games Roundup

Zoo! Oil! Golf! D-Captatrix! Robotek! Hunting!

Feed Me Oil

Not since World Of Goo successfully graced our faces has so much gloopy fun been had over such a concerted period. I feel like I should lay down some plastic sheeting, just in case.

Like some kind of excitable truffle hog, Chillingo has yet again managed to root around in the puzzle undergrowth and emerge beaming and triumphant.

This time, pass the hat around for HolyWater Games, who politely request that you divert oil from a spout into the mouth of a perverted grease glutton.

Fill 'em up.

To do so, you need to arrange the tools provided, such as platforms, fans, and elemental circulators, and create pleasantly drifting gouts of inky ooze to a gaping maw. And I never thought I'd write that in a video game review.

At its heart, it's a simple trial-and-error arrangement puzzler, where most of the fun comes from just meddling with the props until something works. But if you have a low pain threshold for a challenge, you can also get the game to spoil it all for you by dispensing tips that tell you exactly where to put things. Hardly the point, but it's there if you get fed up and just want to go onto the next level.

Apart from being a thoroughly engaging game to fiddle around with, Feed Me Oil also looks the part, with a disturbing selection of slurpy behemoths to satiate. And then there's the price. Honestly, it's getting rude now. How is anyone supposed to compete with that?

In summary: Oil have some of that.

8/10

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Super Stickman Golf

  • iPhone/iPad (universal app) - £0.59 - limited time offer, 66 per cent off
  • In-app purchases unlock extra courses and power-ups.

You know you've found a great sports game when the subject matter becomes almost irrelevant.

With Backbreaker, Virtua Tennis and Flick Kick Football, you could conceivably hate the sport and still love the game - and Super Stickman Golf is another one that's all about the purity of the mechanics.

Putty training.

In reality, golf is merely a hook to hang Jordan Schidlowsky's attempt at a physics puzzle-platform game, featuring a stickman, a club, a ball, a chip-tune soundtrack and all manner of headaches to overcome.

Presented in ultra-basic two dimensional form, you simply line up your trajectory, tap to fill up the power bar and tap again to confirm the shot. From there, it's 261 holes' worth of painstaking trial and error as you attempt to avoid the inevitable water hazards and sand traps - not to mention the dreaded forces of gravity.

The further you progress through the 16 available courses, the tougher the challenge - but to balance out the horror, the game gradually provides you with an arsenal of power-ups, such as new clubs, special balls or the ability to retake a fluffed shot without penalty.

Since it's been out for a while now, you might wonder why we've only just got around to covering this highly regarded effort. Well.

The big news of the latest update is, of course, multiplayer, and with 2-4 player support over wi-fi or Bluetooth and Game Center match making, it brings all the ugly drama of competition to an already teeth-grinding affair. With online leaderboards to fret over in addition, you know that this isn't going to end well.

So even if golf brings out your inner chainsaw-wielding Alf Garnett, face your demons with this playful physics-based catharsis. All yours for 59p.

8/10

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