The object is simple. you (Pochi) are blasting through space, doing your best to avoid running into UFOs, asteroids, and other space junk. Along the way you can pick up upgrades, such as shields, which will allow you to get even further.

Pochi offers two modes of play: an Exploration mode which is a good place to start for beginners, and a Speed mode that requires even faster reflexes.

As  many other games have begun using, the developers of Pochi has chosen to utilize the ever more popular Open Feint for tracking your scores and comparing them to others.

Speaking of the developers, my hat is off to you for making it so east to contact you with the option to do so built right into the About screen, something that guys like me appreciate. So many times you have to dig deep into the iTunes store just to find out how to make a game suggestion.

Regardless of that little rabbit trail, Pochi in Space was an entertaining surprise for me and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys classic arcade games.

Game play is very simple.  Using the tilt controls of your iPhone, you “steer” yourself around not only attackers, but also through power-ups that do things like shrink you or give you offensive weapons.  They can also speed you up and slow you down.  One interesting thing though is that you also go past the benchmarks of those that have gone on before.  This is facilitated by online leaderboards that can be set to automatically update after every attempt.

The game is not static though.  Future updates to the game over the next month will be adding new game modes.  Not sure where that is headed, but it should be interesting to find out.

While this is not one of those games that will keep you captivated with new content for hour after hour, the simplicity of little games like this that can be picked up and played for a couple minutes at a time speaks a lot for the million dollar success that some of these “doodle games” have achieved.  Every iPhone needs a few of these for just such occasions.

The goals are simple to comprehend.  On the right side of the screen you have orders for donuts.  They are different types with or without icing, sprinkles, filling, or whatever.  In order to complete your order, you need to set up the flow between the different machines so that you get the right number of the right kind.

One of the things I really like about the game is that it is challenging, but there is no time constraint to cause you pressure.  If you don’t get it right the first time, you are not running out of a limited number of lives or something.  This gives the game a nice relaxed feel that I find appealing.  This is enhanced by the fact that the puzzles can have more than one solution.  This allows you to solve the level by figuring out the right order of things without having to get too down in the weeds with exact placement of equipment.

One of the other things I really appreciate with the game (other than great graphics and game play) is the attention to detail.  Not only does the game allow for multiple player profiles, but sound settings based on different volumes (as opposed to just on and off).  It also separates the 111 levels across five different factories for a little variety.  Another thing that I really like is that, but muting the overall sound on the main launch screen, one can play books or music from other apps while playing the game.  The game also allows for skipping levels if you really get stuck on one.

I can come up with very few suggestions for this game.  I think it would be nice if additional “factories” or level packs became available in future upgrades – even if they were in-app purchases.  Ability for users to contribute their own levels would be cool as well.  But these kinds of possible future enhancements take nothing away from the game as it exists today.  It is solidly built and I can’t find a single fault with it.

Rocknor’s Donut Factory, at an introductory price of $0.99, is a steal of a deal for the 100+ levels it contains.  It’s been a while since I reviewed a game that made my Must-Have list, but this not only makes that list, but also gets 5-stars from me on the App Store.  If you are one of the folks that come to me later and ask if I recommend this game for you personally, consider it recommended.

The goal of the $0.99 game is to hack the computers being shown on the screen using either a direct hack or a virus.  You start out each level with a certain number of viruses for attacks and a firewall level that reflect the strength of the servers you can hack.

The key to this process, and what is smarter than I am, is that if you don’t do these attacks in the right order and bounce your attacks off of the right servers, you run out of viruses and firewall and can’t go any further.  To make this more frustrating, there is no “restart” button on the screen.  You have to exit out to the menu and start a new game.

The game offers a couple of pages of help.  But, contributing to my confusion, the text is fairly small and I can’t read it.  I think the game would really benefit from a tutorial level that walked the user through a level.  I don’t believe the game is complicated.  I like a game that is a challenge.  The addition of a short tutorial and/or some larger text in the help section would help with the understanding though.

Overall, I’d probably give the game a score of a B.  It isn’t as addictive as other puzzle games I’ve played, but should offer multiple hours of challenge for a reasonable price.  If you want to check out the concept, Hacker Evolution Lite is a free version of a similar title from the same developers and should give you a good idea of game-play.

The game interface is incredible.  A lot of thought went into it, and it shows.  What you can’t see in the screen shot to the left is that those background graphics that look like green gears actually rotate or move slowly.  The initial menu also uses this gears-type theme.  In it, you have an inner wheel and an outer wheel that you rotate to get to the level number that you wish to play.  A status message at the bottom of the screen tells you if the level has been completed or in progress.  If you have completed it, it tells you the best time you have for reaching the solution.

Once you get into a game level,  touching a gray square and dragging your finger will add adjoining gray squares.  You can do the same if you are adding to the “path”.  Tapping any square (except for the ones with the numbers on them) will rotate though the options of a “block”, a “path”, or neither.  Once you finish a level, the button on the bottom of the screen to undo a “move” changes to to one that takes you to the next unsolved level.  The levels also auto-complete once there is only one choice left and that choice solves the level.  I wish this was an optional thing though as sometimes, as I neared completion, it completed it for me before I had that “Aha!” moment and realized that I had solved it.  It almost made me feel cheated because I had not fully figured out that I had figured it out.

Like I said, the game comes with 500 different levels, each with a unique solution.  The levels are divided over five different “worlds”.   Puzzle sizes range from the simple 6×6 grids like what I’ve displayed here, but go up to 9×11…basically three times the size of the small ones.  In order to get from one “world” to another, you need to swipe horizontally on the main menu screen.  This is not as obvious as it could be, but takes you to the larger levels with the different graphical themes associated with that “world”.

The game graphics are incredible, but the minimalistic “clicking” sound effects are perfect for listening to your own music or, like me, an audiobook while you play.  One future enhancement that I would love to see would be the ability to start the titles or playlist from within the game so that you can also stop it when things get hairy and you need to concentrate, but don’t want to just mute the sound and loose your place in the book.

Nurikabe Vault also includes OpenFeint support for leader boards.  You can also challenge your friends.  Other game features are not quite as obvious though.  If, for example, you split up your “path” so that it isn’t continuous, it will “tremble” or “shake” a bit to get your attention.  Same goes with a collection of the “boxes” or “blocks”.  If you don’t have enough in the collection, it will “twitch” a bit.

While the game costs $2.99, I think it is well worth it.  A free version with 20 levels is available if you would like to try it out.  You can also become a fan of their Facebook page where occasional promo codes or news is announced.  I’d highly recommend the Wiki page as well.  Not only does it do a great job of laying out the rules and some strategy tips, but when you look at the graphics there, it really shows you how far Nurikabe Vault goes in setting itself apart with an an incredible implementation of a classic logic game.