Russian computer engineer and game designer Alexy Pajitnov created Tetris for PCs way back in 1984. But Tetris first caught the public eye when Nintendo packed it in with the original GameBoy portable console in 1989. Since then, a number of companies have licensed the game and put their own unique spin on it, with the versions from Nintendo (especially Tetris DS) and Sega (Sega Tetris for Dreamcast) standing above the crowd.

Publishing giant Electronic Arts has also produced several Tetris games, including the 2011 Tetris which appeared on Playstation 3 and Windows Phone 7. This year’s Tetris Blitz is EA’s latest version, marrying the time honored Tetris gameplay with the frantic pace of Bejeweled Blitz. Tetris Blitz arrived on Windows Phone 8 a respectable four months after iOS.

Does this version deserve a spot on the list of best Tetris games? Read on to find out.

Fastest Tetris ever

Some players have complained that Tetris doesn’t adapt well to touch screen controls. In truth, it adapts as well as any other console-style game like platformers, shooters, etc. You lose a bit of precision, but you gain the ability to play anywhere – any serious mobile gamer has come terms with that by now.

But Electronic Arts isn’t just targeting the people who buy Gameloft games on their phones with Tetris Blitz. They’re targeting the casual gamers who eat up games like Bejeweled and Candy Crush Saga but don’t take the time to learn more complex control schemes. Hence, EA invented a clever new control system for Tetris Blitz.

Under the new control scheme, players don’t manually rotate pieces. Instead, every time a new piece appears, the game suggests four places to drop it. Tap one of those outlines to instantly drop the piece in place. If you don’t like the suggestions, you can press the Cycle button at left to toggle four more suggestions. Or just drag your finger along the stack of blocks and then release to drop the piece in a different spot.

This shift in control schemes takes a little getting used to for experienced Tetris players, but most gamers will adapt right away. Dropping pieces instantly speeds up the gameplay quite a bit, which is the name of the game in Tetris Blitz. But you can also switch to traditional swipe controls in options if you’re not concerned with speed.

Goals

Seeing as how Tetris Blitz is modeled after Bejeweled Blitz, games last for only two minutes. Players must try to rack up as many points as they can during this time. You can do so by clearing lines, but you’ll also need to make Tetrises (clearing four lines at once) to increase your score multiplier.

The new Frenzy mode helps with scoring as well. As you clear lines, the Frenzy meter to the left of the field rises. Once the meter fills, Frenzy mode activates. Suddenly the screen starts flashing and easy to clear junk blocks appear at the bottom of the field. Points earned from clearing lines doubles. Frenzy lasts only a short time, though clearing lines during a Frenzy will extend its duration.

Once two minutes tick down and the game inevitably ends, players receive a small pile of coins and an even paltrier sum of XP. Experience contributes towards leveling up, which in turn gets you… a few coins. Yeah, leveling up has no other point than a coin bonus. Not the most compelling metagame, honestly.

Powerups and IAPs

Blitz lacks a solid long term goal (other than Achievements), but it does have a decent weekly goal. See, only a handful of the game’s 14 powerups are unlocked by default. To use an available powerup, you have to spend the coins you’ve earned or bought via In-App Purchase (IAP). Powerups are absolutely necessary to achieve high scores.

To get the rest of the powerups, you can spend money on disturbingly overpriced IAPs. We’re talking six bucks to unlock a single power-up. Doesn’t that sound great?

However, one of those premium powerups is usable on a temporary basis as the Powerup of the Week. If a player manages to use that powerup 90 times, it will unlock for good. So that’s your real goal for the week – spend coins on the Powerup of the Week and play 90 games so that it will unlock for good. I don’t personally find the game compelling enough to do that, but at least EA gives players a way around the crazy high IAP prices.

Other IAPs include coin packs, the ability to hold an extra Tetromino for later use, the ability to see the next three Tetrominos coming up instead of only one, extra spins for the lame daily spinner minigame, and disabling ads.

Facebook closed

Tetris Blitz is one of those rare Xbox Windows Phone games with Facebook integration. Even The Sims FreePlay (also from EA) had its social features stripped from the Windows Phone 8 version, but I guess EA considered them more important for Blitz.

The Facebook integration here allows players to view their Facebook friends’ high scores and send them challenges. It’s not much, but it does offer a measure of cross platform competition. This game is awfully light on content so it needs every little advantage it can get.

Sadly, the Facebook integration completely broke for me a couple of days after I started playing. When I try to log in, I get the dreaded white screen with red text that we once suffered through in Ice Age Village. It just sits on that screen, forcing me to back out and choose to play without signing in. Oh, but the game will still remind you to sign in to Facebook between games, even when Facebook no connect-y.

Fail to connect to Facebook and you can’t even see your Xbox Live friends in the Leaderboards. Why? Sure, some players are still able to connect to Facebook, but based on the negative reviews in the Store, this problem affects a fair number of users.

And more bugs

Broken Facebook connectivity isn’t the only bug afflicting Tetris Blitz. The Powerup of the Week, which should be half off as an IAP, appears at full price while the previous week’s powerup shows up at a discount. Way to encourage a purchase!

More disconcertingly, sometimes the game will just free up for several seconds and then start working again. These freezes kept happening to me over and over one night, making the game completely unplayable. Since then, it hasn’t happened to me. But again, Store reviews show the freezes are a widespread problem.

Some users report that the option to Exit from the game does not work for them. I don’t have this problem, but I sympathize. At least the Windows Phone 8 GDR3 update will allow users to close any app from the Fast App Switching screen.

Finally, I hear the game crashes quite frequently for some people.

Achievements

Okay, one more bug: the in-game counters that SHOULD show progress towards Achievements simply don’t work. The most time consuming Achievement is for clearing 100,000 lines. We should be able to see how many lines we’ve cleared, but due to the tracking bug we cannot.

Tetris Blitz also has a useless Achievement for unlocking every other Achievement. That sort of Achievement makes sense on platforms like the Playstation 3 which don’t have GamerScore. But under the Xbox ecosystem, everyone can tell you’ve got all of a game’s Achievements because you’ll have the full 200 (or whatever number) of GamerScore. Shame to waste an Achievement on the equivalent of a Platinum Trophy.

Overall Impression

I’ve always had a soft spot for Tetris, and I wanted to love Tetris Blitz. But I don’t think Electronic Arts spent enough time on the game design or UI with this one.

Leveling up is essentially meaningless instead of rewarding, and players who don’t care about leaderboard competitions (or can’t view the leaderboards, like me) or Achievements have no reason to keep coming back. Tetris Blitz feels like an extra mode you’d ignore in a more robust Tetris game.

The Facebook problems, busted IAP pricing, and other bugs don’t do this version any favors either. Hopefully EA patches things up with an update or two. Blitz is not a bad game, but it could be so much better.

• Tetris Blitz– Windows Phone 8 – 32 MB – Free – Store Link

The Sims FreePlay was a very big game when it arrived on Windows Phone 8 in September. So big that we published a two installment Achievement guide and an In-App Purchase guide on top of our usual review. But even then, our version lacked some content from the iOS version, including all social features. The iOS and Android games received a new update on October 11, pushing even farther ahead of our version.

Only one month after its initial release, The Sims FreePlay has just received a massive update. Windows Phone players now have access to the Mysterious Island area, teenage Sims, a whole new quest system, tons of new items, and much more. However, the update also makes a few Achievements much more difficult and time consuming. Head past the break for detailed descriptions and screenshots of the many changes!

Quest Chains

The largest change to how the game itself works is the revamped quest system. Prior to the update, players could only work on one quest at a time. If the quest required you to complete it at a certain time or you didn’t have the necessary building, it could take days or weeks before you could make any progress.

After the update, players can have up to three active quests at once. Each quest is now part of a quest chain. Complete one and you’ll move on to the next quest in the series. Finish all of the quests in a series and you’ll earn a reward. However, quest chains are time sensitive, so you won’t get the full reward unless you finish before the time runs out.

The good news is this system makes completing goals for ‘1000 GOALS!’ Achievement a fair bit easier. The bad news is that Goals are now far less likely to provide Life Points as rewards. You’ll still get them every now and then, but for the most part goals just pay out in Simoleons and XP now. This doesn’t stop players from earning Life Points via other methods, but it does slow the earning a bit.

Mystery Boxes

The basic quest chain (comprised of random quests) provides a new item as a completion reward: the Mystery Box key.  You can only earn one key per week, though the chain continues to produce quests even after completion. 

To visit the Mystery Boxes Store, collect at least one key, select the weekly quest chain, and touch the Mystery Box icon. Mystery Boxes cost 1-10 keys, with the more expensive ones providing better rewards. Their contents are random, but at least you can judge the reward rarity by the cost of the Box.

Money Grows on Trees (unlocks at level 13)

Story-based quest chains contain a series of non-random quests and tell a little story as part of each goal’s description. They also pay out unique rewards for completing the chain.

The first story chain you’ll work on is called ‘Money Grows on Trees?’ It consists of the following goals:

1. Ponder in a Lounge Chair
2. Grow Potatoes
3. Make a Double Shot of Coffee
4. Grow Watermelon
5. Make a Hot Snack in the microwave
6. Catch some Zs on a Couch
7. Buy a Seed From the Supermarket
8. Have a Quick Dip in the Bath
9. Negotiate with a Sim-Eating Plant
10. Bake Donuts
11. Grow a Simoleon Sprout in the Garden

The Simoleon Sprout is a new plant for your Sims to grow. Planting one instantly launches a slot-machine minigame in which all of the payouts are in Simoleons. You can plant a Simoleon Sprout for free every four hours. Planting them sooner costs 5 Life Points. Probably not a great investment.

The Mysterious Island (unlocks at level 15)

After completing the Simoleon Sprout quest chain, you’ll gain access to the Mysterious Island quest series. It contains the following goals:

1. Watch the News on TV
2. Go for a drive
3. Wash hands
4. Build bridge on the town map
5. Visit the Mysterious Island
6. Tap the Monument icon
7. Read Encyclopedia
8. Call a Friend
9. Catch a Ghost
10. Grill 'em all on a BBQ
11. Bake Pancakes
12. Bake Cookies
13. Read the Big Book of Stuff
14. Browse Internet
15. Have a Deep Sleep
16. Rest Eyes on a Couch
17. Grow Onions
18. Rich Lather in the Shower
19. Find Another Resource
20. Upgrade 'The Riches of Terra' to Level 1
21. Garden, Bake, or Work until you get a Simoleon bonus
22. Upgrade 'The Riches of Terra' to Level 2

The Mysterious Island itself is a new map that you can travel to after building The Mysterious Island Bridge. It contains a series of monuments for players to build. Each monument provides a chance to earn Simoleon or Life Point bonuses from completing tasks.

Instead of Simoleons or Life Points, monuments cost resources – a new class of item. Players will randomly earn resources by completing tasks such as gardening, hobbies, etc. The resource earned is random as well, with certain ones being much rarer than others. After you’ve upgraded the first monument, you can choose to substitute Life Points for resources at a cost of 3 Life Points per missing unit of resource.

Coming of Age (level 23), Higher Education (level 24), and the Road to Fame (level 25)

The update introduces a new NPC character: Osiris the alien. Windows Phone players will first meet him at the beginning of the ‘Coming of Age’ quest series. Once you’ve unlocked Osiris, you can go to him or call him just like other Sims - from the SimTracker.

The ‘Coming of Age’ consists of:

1. Meet Osiris
2. Be Nice To Osiris
3. Bake Donuts
4. Be Nice To Osiris
5. Read The Big Book Of Stuff
6. Watch A Movie Marathon
7. Bake Chocolate Pudding
8. Talk To Trees
9. Grow Potatoes
10. Be Inconspicuous On A Park Bench
11. Bake Birthday Cake

After completing ‘Coming of Age,’ you’ll be able to advance Preteen Sims to full Teen status! The ‘Higher Education’ series then allows you to build the High School for teens to attend.

The ‘Road to Fame’ quest allows teens to become Teen Idols. Idols can play new instruments, sign autographs, and more. You’ll also be able to build one more new building: the SimTown Sign. It gives a chance to get extra revenue when collecting Simoleons from the town map. Unlike other buildings on the main town map, building the SimTown Sign requires unique resources instead of Simoleons.

Hobby Rewards

The new quests and content have all been good news, but here’s where we get to negative territory. Prior to the update, hobbies were the best way to increase your Town value. Completing a set of ghosts via ghost hunting or crafting all of the woodworking designs more than once would net players 500,000 Town Value each time.

Sadly, the update removes the 500,000 Town value bonus from all hobby collections. Completing collections now just gets you 3 Life Points. As such, hobbies remain the best way to earn Life Points. But the change makes the Town Value Achievements so much harder. In fact, it would take the rest of your life, much of your firstborn child’s life, and an extra month for good measure to actually reach 30,000,000 Town value now. So if you haven’t updated yet, don’t do it until you get that Achievement!

Ghost Hunting and Halloween Event

Even without the allure of Town value bonuses, Ghost hunting has long been a popular method of grinding for Simoleons and Life Points. EA knows this and so they made ghost hunting a little harder. Haunted items now lose their hauntedness for 20-30 minutes after use.

If you want to continuously hunt for ghosts, you’ll need several haunted items in the same house (a good idea anyway). And if you want multiple Sims hunting for ghosts, you’ll have to buy a boatload of extra haunted goods in order to ensure they always have a haunted object to investigate.

Downer, right? On the plus side, the ghost hunting hobby can now level up to 8 instead of six. There are six new ghosts to find, which also bumps up the reward for subsequent ghost collection completions to 5 Life Points instead of 3. More exciting, each tier of ghosts offers brand new haunted items to unlock as rewards. These are all part of the special Halloween event that EA runs every year.

Complete the expanded collection of ghosts by November 1^st and you’ll unlock the Petrifying Putting Green item! It will only be available until then and never again. You’ll find it in the Outdoor Furniture section of the Home Store.

It's great to see a time-based event included in an Xbox Windows Phone game. We've missed out on similar features in past games like Ice Age Village. Maybe EA will keep The Sims Freeplay up to date right alongside the other versions.

Job Leveling

Just as ghost hunting got harder, so did leveling up careers. Before, the fastest way to level up a job was to use its related hobby item for one hour at a time. The update has changed the hobby item time to three hours, reducing the items’ effectiveness. Jobs are not as critical as hobbies in this game, but this change does make the ‘Mad Scientist’ Achievement take longer.

Limited edition Progressive items

Here’s a mostly good thing. From time to time, EA adds sponsored items to the game. Windows Phone already has Toyota cars and guitars, and the iOS game has Febreze spray. This update throws Progressive Insurance cars and TVs into the mix.

The TV is rated at 2-stars and gives players the option to watch that annoying Flo lady that I want to slap. Both the TV and car are free, so we can’t complain too much about the commercialization aspect. The Achievement for driving ‘100 miles’ just got easier, though you do still have to build the Car Dealership in order to pick up your free car.

New In-App Purchases

Naturally a giant content update like this has to add some new ways for players to spend real money. These are the ones I’ve encountered so far:

• Adopt a Preteen– $4.99
  Use a phone and choose this option to instantly add a preteen to your roster. Saves the trouble of having a baby and baking birthday cakes.
• Adopt a Teen–$4.99
  This option appears after you complete the ‘Coming of Age’ quests. “Why make a teen the old fashioned way when you can just buy them?” someone asks.
• Life Point Lotus– $.99
  Works like the Simoleon Sprout but with Life Points, and it always costs money. I won 50 Life Points when I tried it. This seems like a good deal no matter how much you win.
• Dolphin Pool Pack – $3.99
  Add a splash of dolphin-themed awesomeness to your pool area with our all-new Dolphin Pack! Contains dolphin float, pool slide, and beach towels. Found in the Specials section of the Online Store.

We’ll update our In-App Purchase Guide soon.

Miscellaneous changes

• Item prices are now displayed in the Online Store. Sweet!
• The camera can now be zoomed out much farther.
• The game now displays what type of fish you caught after your Sim gets swallowed by a giant fish.
• A DJ can no longer join in with dancing Sims if no one else is DJing.

This update revamped the user interface displayed at the bottom of the screen, including buttons. These changes are mostly for the better, but the Sims' needs meters are more scrunched up and harder to read than before.

Bigger, mostly better

Thanks to the Sims FreePlay version 1.1 update, Windows Phone now has all of the iOS content except for the social features. Sadly, the Party Boat, the ability to visit friends’ towns, and items that cost Social Points are still nowhere to be found. It looks like EA won’t be giving us those features in the future, but you never know.

Still, they did add tons of new quests and items to complete. The new quest system actually makes the game way more varied and interesting. The time-based quests series even instill a sense of urgency that wasn’t there before. Players who enjoy decorating and accessorizing their Sims will love the new items. Margaritas all around!

The only people who should NOT download this update are players who haven’t reached 30,000,000 Town Value yet. If that includes you, I suggest you max out your woodworking skill, purchase work benches for all your Sims, and put them to work until you get the Achievement. Woodworking is a faster completion than ghost hunting. After the Achievement unlocks, Town Value doesn’t matter anymore and you can enjoy the update without worry.

• The Sims FreePlay – Windows Phone 8 (1 GB of RAM) – 504 MB – Free – Store Link

Thanks to Dr. David Baptista da Silva for the tip!

The Xbox One launch is fast approaching, with many game publishers lined up to publish launch titles for the new console. One of those publishers is Electronic Arts, who have Battlefield 4 and Need for Speed: Rivals ready for Xbox One.

In celebration if the impending launch, EA invited us to their headquarters in Redwood City, CA to check out a couple of Xbox One exclusive titles they have coming in the months ahead. We can’t talk about those games just yet, but I can share my experiences and impressions of the gigantic publisher’s sprawling base of operations.

As the article headline indicates, it was raining up a storm when we visited the headquarters. Two buildings at EA face the street and parking lot, with several more buildings behind them. Their design is elegant and modern, but some external decorations related to the publisher's gaming properties would have been cool.

The lobby leads to the employee store, the upper floors, and a long horizontal hallway. As visitors pick up their badges, they can watch trailers for upcoming EA games such as The Sims 4 and Battlefield 4.

At the center of the hallway rests this beautiful 1993 Ducati Supersport Desmodue 900 bike. Notice the Team Road Rash helmet at its rear.

The Road Rash motorcycle racing/combat series was one of EA's most popular franchises during the days of the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. Many of us hope the series will return to glory someday. This 1993 bike would have been created between the releases of Road Rash 2 on the Genesis and the 32-bit 3DO Road Rash.

Displays lining the wall celebrate various periods of EA's history. On the left are several early home computer games. At the right, notice Road Rash for the relatively obscure 3DO console. I put so much time into that version of the game, which featured cheesy live-action story sequences and licensed music from bands like Soundgarten. Road Rash was later ported to the Playstation and Sega Saturn.

The display on the right celebrates the beginning of The Sims series as well as EA's strange Def Jam fighting games. Remember those?

Shortly after EA bought PopCap Games, zombies started to infest the place.

Both walls of his hallway are dedicated to EA games that have gone "Platinum" or above. That means they sold at least one million copies. Did you know that EA helped publish Final Fantasy X for the Playstation 2? It hangs on the middle of this wall.

Believe it or not, Electronic Arts really looks out for its employees. When the sky opens up, everyone grabs a free EA umbrella for protection. Beyond this door lies an outdoor playground for employee's children, a massive cafeteria, and a gym.

Here's your friendly neighborhood Games Editor with PopCap's Sylvain Dubrofsky (on left), the lead designer of Peggle 2. We'll have lots more to share about the Xbox One-exclusive Peggle 2 in December!

My visit concluded with a trip to the Electronic Arts employee store, where I picked up these games a few days ahead of the Xbox One console launch. The system itself goes on sale this Friday, November 22nd. You can look forward to our reviews of the Xbox One itself and many of its launch titles in the weeks ahead.

Anyone else planning on grabbing Battlefield 4 or Need for Speed: Rivals?

The Xbox One launched in 13 countries last Friday, and early adopters (including much of the Windows Phone Central staff) have a fairly robust selection of launch titles to enjoy. That doesn’t mean we’re not already looking to the future, though. When you buy a console during the first month of its release, you’re investing in the games that will come later even more than the first wave of titles.

One of the most exciting early post-launch releases will be Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare from PopCap Games. Garden Warfare now has an official release date of February 18^th, 2014 for both Xbox One and Xbox 360. I actually played the game during our visit to Electronic Arts headquarters last week and came away highly impressed. Head past the break for impressions, gameplay footage, and our video interview with Garden Warfare producer, Brian Lindley!

Spin-off or spin out?

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare is a spin-off of the popular Plants vs. Zombies games. Whereas the two mainline entries have been 2-dimensional tower defense games, Garden Warfare is a multiplayer-focused third-person shooter with 3D graphics. It plays a lot different from the titles that spawned it. You could be forgiven for worrying that PopCap and/or EA were stretching the brand too far with this one. I had the same fear.

On a rainy day in San Francisco just before the Xbox One launched, Electronic Arts invited journalists to try Garden Warfare for themselves. Eight of us crowded into a room filled with networked Xbox One consoles equipped with Astro Gaming headsets. After a short presentation, we joined a 24-player online match of Team Vanquish (the Plants vs. Zombies version of Team Deathmatch) against PopCap’s playtesting staff. Any doubts about PopCap jumping the shark with Garden Warfare quickly disappeared after that.

An unnatural fit made natural

To successfully spin a series off into a new genre, you need two things: proper integration of the original games’ characters and universe, and the new game must actually meet the genre standards for quality.

Garden Warfare captures the feeling of Plants vs. Zombies so very well. From a purely aesthetic standpoint, the many varied plants and zombies all translate perfectly to three dimensions. Anyone who has seen the toys or plushes would already know that, but the PvZ characters look even better in full 3D action. They radiate with personality - far more than you’d see in a typical FPS or third-person shooter.

On the sound front, the music comes from Peter McConnell, who previously composed the soundtrack for Plants vs. Zombies 2 and many classic LucasArts games. I didn’t get to hear much of Garden Warfare’s music, but it promises to feature new iterations of classic themes from the first two games. The sound effects (which I could hear just fine) have the typical PopCap zing, and Crazy Dave still makes the unintelligible voice samples he’s known for.

Characters and teams

Garden Warfare is unique among competitive shooters in that its two factions are asymmetrical in nature. The plants and zombies each have unique abilities that the other doesn’t. Owing to its predecessors’ design, plants are more defensive in nature while the zombies favor offense.

The two teams consist of multiple characters for players to choose from. On the Plants side, we saw the Peashooter (the basic all-around soldier), Sunflower (medic), Chomper (stealth), and Cactus (long-range). The zombies have a Foot Soldier, All Star (football player), Scientist (healer), and Engineer. Players can unlock variants of each unit such as the Ice Cactus, whose shots can slow and eventually freeze opponents.

Every unit boasts three special abilities in addition to its standard attacks. The Peashooter, for instance, can set down roots and become a Gatling Pea, fire explosive Chili beans, or become Hyper and move at super speed. The plants' Cactus gets to fly around as a Garlic drone, while the zombies' Engineer has a flying drone of his own. These abilities take time to recharge, so players will still need to do some old-fashioned shooting as well.

Venus zombie trap

My favorite class to play during the event was the Venus flytrap-like Chomper. Unlike other classes, the Chomper doesn’t get a projectile weapon. He’s melee-only. This puts the guy at a disadvantage in frontal assaults, where it could take him several bites to vanquish a zombie. But sneak up from behind and the Chomper can eat an opponent, scoring a delightfully-animated 1-hit kill.

As if the Chomper’s focus on sneaking up from behind wasn’t ninja enough, he also has a burrowing ability. Tap the Y button and your Chomper digs underground, at which point he can move around for a short while without being hit. If the Chomper manages to sneak up under an opponent, he gets another satisfying instant kill. Naturally zombies can see the Chomper coming and get out of the way, and some of them have abilities that force the Chomper aboveground. Still! Sneaking up on a distracted zombie and devouring him from below is way too fun.

Game Modes

Garden Warfare runs on Dice’s Frostbite Engine, the same framework that powers Battlefield 4. And like the Battlefield games of old, large-scale competitive multiplayer is this title’s main draw. It supports two 12-versus-12 game types: “Team Vanquish” and “Gardens & Graveyards.” The latter (which we didn’t pay) is objective based, with one side defending their base from the other’s onslaught.

As for Team Vanquish, the goal is simply to help your team reach 50 kills (called Vanquishes here). Team deathmatch has been done to death in first- and third-person shooters, but Garden Warfare never feels too samey. The bright, cheerful visuals, sense of humor, and delightful on-screen characters all grabbed me in a way that few shooters do.

Non-competitive gamers won’t have quite as much to do in Garden Warfare, however. The game lacks a campaign mode. PopCap wanted to focus on polishing multiplayer as much as possible with this first outing, and given the game’s release schedule there wasn’t time to do a proper story mode. But they do see Garden Warfare as a strong new franchise contender. Should the game sell well enough to warrant a sequel, the follow-up would very likely have a campaign.

Ah, but Garden Warfare does have an online cooperative mode for up to 4-players! We didn’t get to try it out, but teaming up as plants against the AI zombies and gigantic bosses like the Goliath should be almost as addicting as the versus modes. The Xbox One version even supports 2-player split-screen co-op.

All progress made during offline and online co-op contributes towards the player’s overall profile. Each character type has numerous challenges to work through, such as scoring kills with a specific weapon. Complete enough and you’ll level up with that character. Players also have an overall level that leads to unlocking goodies.

Coming soon to Xbox consoles

If you love Plants vs. Zombies or a good multiplayer game, mark February 18, 2014 on your calendar. That’s when Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare arrives at retail.

The Xbox One version will cost $39.99 while the Xbox 360 version will ring up for $29.99. The Xbox One version's split-screen and SmartGlass features (not present on 360) make up for its higher price tag. PopCap and Electronic Arts also have a PC version of Garden Warfare in the works, but it doesn’t have a release date just yet. Preorder either console version to receive two in-game card packs that will unlock various customization options.

We'll have more exclusive Xbox One game footage from our Electronic Arts visit in December!

A few weeks ago, a bunch of Xbox Windows Phone games (mostly Nokia collection titles) went on sale at once. Nokia, who seems to have organized the sale, also announced that several more games would be discounted in early December.

Those titles (and a few more) are now on sale. We’ve got Contre Jour, Flight Control Rocket, Spy Mouse, Storm in a Teacup, Vampire Rush, and Zuma’s Revenge are all on sale for 99 cents. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, which regularly sells for $4.99, has been marked down to $2.99. All seven games come from Electronic Arts and/or its subsidiaries Chillingo and PopCap.

Head past the break for descriptions and Store links!

Contre Jour (Windows Phone 7 or 8)

Regular price: $2.99 Sale price: $.99 Download size: 33 MB Store Link

We’re still waiting on the Windows 8 version of Contre Jour, but at least we can get the Windows Phone version for cheap in the meantime.

Contre Jour is one of the loveliest Windows Phone games thanks to its effective use of light and silhouette, not to mention the haunting musical score. The goal is to get the tentacled protagonist Petit to each level’s exit while collecting all the lights along the way. Instead of directly controlling Petit, players manipulate the environment by stretching the ground and activating various gadgets.

Technically this is a physics puzzler, but the bold art direction and unique gameplay puts it in a separate league from other genre entries. The difficulty is pretty steep… But if you get stuck, there are guides available online.

Flight Control Rocket (Windows Phone 7 and 8)

Regular price: $2.99 Sale price: $.99 Download size: 41 MB Store Link

You’ve probably played the original Flight Control, but perhaps you missed its mostly superior sequel. This one switches things to a retro sci-fi setting in which players must help incoming rockets land on a space-faring mothership safely. You do this by drawing paths from each ship to the appropriate runway, all while trying to avoid collisions.

Not only is FC Rocket way prettier than its forbear, it also offers a lot more gameplay. The three modes each mix the gameplay up in interesting ways, changing up the combo scoring system, bonus rounds, and even mixing in stranded astronauts to rescue. Players can also purchase and equip a variety of robot helpers to customize the gameplay a bit.

The only catch is that FC Rocket’s Achievements are horrendously grindy. The original iOS game allowed users to make IN-App Purchases that would speed them up, but there is no such option on Windows Phone. Still, as I say in our review, if you ignore Achievements this is the best line-drawing game in town.

Spy Mouse (Windows Phone 7 and 8)

Regular price: $2.99 Sale price: $.99 Download size: 111 MB Store Link

Spy Mouse's developer Firemint is best known for popularizing the line-drawing genre with Flight Control. In this one, they’ve utilized that line drawing tech to make a stealth game. Players control the titular mouse by drawing a path around each level. He’ll need to grab cheese and reach the level exit without being nabbed by patrolling cats.

Each level has three optional goals such as not being spotted, drawing only one continuous path, and finishing within a certain time limit. Completing every level with those goals completed will net some tasty Achievements.

Storm in a Teacup (Windows Phone 7 or 8)

Regular price: $2.99 Sale price: $.99 Download size: 32 MBStore Link

The game stars a little boy named Storm who hops around in a teacup through fanciful levels dreamed up by his brother Cloud in this touch screen platformer.

Storm in a Teacup is extremely simplistic in the graphics department – the backgrounds don’t even use parallax scrolling, which they sorely need. And yet the frame rate is somewhere in the 10-15 FPS range. It’s like Gameloft’s 3D Windows Phone 8 games, only nothing complex is even going on under the hood. Blame Cobra, whose port of iBomber Defense also runs quite poorly.

Still, if you can tolerate crap graphics and love platformers, you might be able to put up with this one. I’d definitely play Sonic CD and Little Acorns first though.

Vampire Rush (Windows Phone 7 or 8)

Regular price: $2.99 Sale price: $.99 Download size: 99 MBStore Link

In Vampire Rush, players take on the role of Captain Greg, a British swashbuckler. Only Greg can stand between the gates of the city and armies of the undead in this mix of tower defense with hack-and-slash action.

You’ll run around each map, hunting down vampires and their kin on the map and swording them into oblivion. Sometimes they drop gold, which can then be used to build and upgrade turrets or purchase character upgrades. Just don’t let the enemies reach the gate or Greg and the village will meet an untimely demise. Check out our full review for more details.

Vampire Rush features both a campaign mode and survival mode, the latter of which was added in an update. That same update fixed a broken Achievement, but failed to fix another broken one. A-Steroids has told us they would like to get the final Achievement working, but it seems unlikely to happen at this point.

Zuma’s Revenge (Windows Phone 7 or 8)

Regular price: $2.99 Sale price: $.99 Download size: 197 MBStore Link

Zuma’s Revenge put players in control of a stationary frog who can rotate in any direction and shoot colored balls from his mouth. In each level, more balls roll on-screen along one or more paths. The frog’s job is to stop them from reaching the goal at the path’s end by quickly making as many colored matches as possible. Levels in which the frog can hop between lily pads, move along a slider, or battle boastful bosses keep the game fresh and challenging.

The mobile version of Zuma’s Revenge is pretty much a straight port of the PC game. Adventure Mode gives players a limited number of lives and they must reach checkpoints every few levels in order to continue when those lives run out. So the Windows Phone game ends up a bit harder than the Xbox 360 version. Beating levels unlocks them for free play in Challenge Mode, at least.

PopCap pretty much makes nothing but great games (most recently Peggle 2on Xbox One), and Zuma’s Revenge is no exception. Read our full review to learn more.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit (Windows Phone 7 or 8)

Regular price: $4.99 Sale price: $2.99 Download size: 113 MBStore Link

Need for Speed: Rivals might be one of the better Xbox One launch games, but not every Need for Speed is a winner. Take the Windows Phone version of Hot Pursuit, for example. Sure, it looks pretty for a Windows Phone 7 game and has the slick menus and licensed music you’d expect from this series. It even lets players choose between controlling a cop or a street racer, just like Rivals.

Presentation isn’t everything though; a game needs to be fun to play. Hot Pursuit starts out fun but gets insanely difficult and grindy before too long. You’ll need to do the same races over and over again in order to unlock the cars needed to compete in higher level events. Even then, some events simply require perfection from the player – not easy or fun given the phone game’s naturally less precise controls. See our review for more proof of frustration.

Get them while they’re hot

Nokia and EA haven’t advertised when this sale will end. Maybe it will last a week, maybe less. If you’re interested in a sale game, better to download them now rather than waiting.

What do you think of this sale selection, dear readers? Did you grab Zuma’s Revenge or any of the other games?

Thanks to Diego Magnani for the tip!

This has been a terrible year for Xbox games on Windows Phone. Microsoft has all but dropped support for the Xbox branding on phones, developers have stopped releasing Xbox games en masse, and new Xbox games are basically a rare occurrence nowadays. Don’t you wish the Windows Phone team cared a lick about gamers?

The latest sign of the inevitable demise of Xbox on Windows Phone comes with last week’s Tetris Blitz update. The game launched in a bug-ridden state (see our review). But to Electronic Arts’ credit, the publisher has released a steady stream of updates to improve its product. The latest update certainly packs some improvements, but it sort of looks like it removes Tetris Blitz’s Xbox branding. Could this be the end of EA’s Xbox support or just a snafu?

Update: EA's official response after the break!

Tetris Blitz version 1.4 release notes

• New Tournaments Mode– Compete against other players in limited-time events, each with its own unique rules and leaderboards
• Player Profiles and Avatars– Create your own Tournament identity
• Updated News Section– Stay informed of new Tournaments and challenges
• Holiday Content– Get festive this holiday season with surprise content

This update basically catches the Windows Phone 8 game up with the iOS version, which received the update on November 26.

This update totally revamps the game’s menu system. Several functions like the Bonus Blitz, Settings, and Achievements are tucked away under the orange button with three lines at the top-left corner of the screen. Actual game types are selected by swiping left or right in the main window below. The Pro Scoring Strategies button at the bottom of the menu leads to several YouTube strategy videos.

The update adds a couple of new powerups that players can buy: Blitz’n and Bulldozer. It also fixes the mismatched prices on the Power of the Week. Or maybe they fixed that in the previous update; I forget.

I haven’t managed to discover the holiday content yet. Maybe it’s hidden away in Tournament mode or something?

Tournament Mode

As for the new Tournament mode, unfortunately it doesn’t unlock until the player reaches level 11 (I’m at 8). There newly redesigned menu system has a button labelled “UNLOCK Level 11” right at the top of the screen. Presumably this is intended to allow players to unlock Tournament Mode straight away by making an In-App Purchase. However, the button doesn’t do anything.

We do know that Tournaments are timed worldwide competitions. The top three participants win truckloads of coins. That could never be me because unfortunately, I’m too slow to excel at Tetris Blitz.

Live no more?

The reason many are fearing the game has dropped Xbox support: the Xbox banner has disappeared from its tile on the Windows Phone Store! Indeed that is highly unusual; I can’t think of another game to have done so in this manner. See, Xbox has never been patched out of a Windows Phone game – the existing Xbox version usually gets delisted while a new non-Xbox version appears on the Store.

Tetris Blitz version 1.4 is definitely not a separate version, and it still appears under the Xbox section of the Games hub. The Store page still lists Xbox Live in the description. What’s more, the Achievements continue to appear under the in-game Achievements menu under the new “Xbox” header. The Achievements menu also lists Challenges and non-Xbox Achievements as well now.

To my eyes, it looks like Tetris Blitz still has the same Xbox Achievements it always had – plus some extra ones that don’t award GamerScore. And a couple of readers have reported that they earned genuine Xbox Achievements after the update. If my optical receptors and those guys are to be believed, Tetris Blitz has not dropped the ‘box.

My best guess is that the removal of the Xbox banner from the game’s Store tile is simply in error. We contacted EA but haven’t received a response yet. If they provide an official explanation, we’ll update and let you know.

• Tetris Blitz– Windows Phone 8 – 42 MB – Free – Store Link

Update

Electronic Arts has issued a statement on this issue:

"We’re not removing XBOX Live functionality from this title; rather, our distribution team accidentally uploaded the wrong icon and is in the process of changing it, but the cert process takes a couple of weeks.  That said, we’re definitely working on correcting the issue, and in the meantime, Xbox Live functionality should be working as normal."

Not long ago, we published an in-depth preview of Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare for Xbox One and 360. Electronic Arts had invited us to play the game’s competitive Team Vanquish mode, which proved to be tons of fun. Somehow, the transition from tower defense to third-person shooter works really well with Plants vs. Zombies.

Of course, most decent shooters have more than one game type. Garden Warfare is no exception. This week, PopCap revealed a gameplay video and new details about the game’s “Gardens and Graveyards” game type. The capture and defense-based mode will require serious teamwork in order for one of the game’s rival factions to succeed. Check out the video and our impressions after the break.

Gardens versus graveyards

Garden Warfare’s competitive modes are team based affairs. “Gardens and Graveyards” supports two teams of 12-players, making for massive 24-person shoot-outs. Things would get cramped if the levels were too small. The video that PopCap released shows a gigantic map consisting of interconnected islands and multiple bases to capture and defend, so breathing room shouldn’t be much of a problem.

The Gardens and Graveyards game type puts the Plants in charge of defending their garden bases from the invading zombies. They’ll do so with guns and glory, plus some base fortifications. The defend-the-base aspect is quite similar to the mainline Plants vs. Zombies games, except with much more action this time.

The Zombie team starts out in the lair of the nefarious Dr. Zomboss – the final boss of the original Plants vs. Zombies. From there, the undead team will rush towards the first of the Plants’ bases. If the Zombies manage to take the base, it becomes a respawn point and puts them one step closer to capturing their final objective. The Plants can retake the base, but they’ll have to contend with the Zombies’ fortifications when they try it.

The Zombies’ final objective in the video’s Driftwood Shores map is the Plants’ Mega Flower Lighthouse. Will they succeed in capturing it? Not if the Plants team plays skillfully and pulls together when it counts.

More to come

Garden Warfare features two more game modes: Team Vanquish and Co-op (probably not the final name). In Team Vanquish, the goal is simply to help your team reach 50 kills (called Vanquishes here). Team deathmatch has been done to death in first- and third-person shooters, but Garden Warfare stands out thanks to its unique classes and the creative special abilities each class gets to wield. See our hands-on impressions for more details.

As for co-op, the online mode supports up to four Plants players. They’ll take on waves of AI zombies and bosses in their efforts to keep their gardens (and human creators) safe. The Xbox One version also allows 2 local players to team up in split-screen co-op. The 360 version is limited to online play.

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare arrives both on the Xbox One and 360 on February 18 of next year. The Xbox One version will cost $39.99 while the Xbox 360 version will ring up for $29.99. Preorder either console version to receive two in-game card packs that will unlock various customization options.

One of the greatest tragedies in Windows Phone gaming is that PopCap’s original Peggle never made it onto the platform. Originating as a PC game, Peggle eventually made its way to practically every platform under the sun except for Windows Phone – including the Xbox 360.

Still, at least we know PopCap loves Xbox consoles. The long-awaited sequel Peggle 2 launched earlier this month as a timed Xbox One exclusive. The new console needs games and Peggle 2 happens to be one of the most enjoyable games around. A bit of polish got lost in the rush to launch, but the new Peggle still deserves your attention.

Detailed review with video after the break!

Take it down a peg

Peggle combines the game of Pachinko (shooting balls at pegs for points) with Pool-like aiming to create a game all unto itself. Each level consists of an assortment of colored pegs and bricks for players to destroy by firing balls at them. Blue pegs just give points; purple pegs add to your score multiplier; green pegs activate your character’s special power; and all orange pegs (a very red orange) must be cleared to finish the level.

Players have ten balls with which to take down all those pegs. You aim and fire the ball from a launcher at the top center of the screen. Once it hits a peg, the ball bounces around realistically, hopefully striking other pegs before it falls off the bottom of the screen.

The more orange pegs you take out during a level, the higher the score multiplier on the right side of the screen goes. As an individual ball bounces around hitting targets, it also fills a score meter on the left. Should the shot rack up enough points before leaving the screen, you’ll earn one or more free balls for your trouble.

As players take aim and bounce a shot around the field, a bucket moves back and forth along the bottom of the screen. If your ball lands in the bucket, you’ll gain an extra ball. This often happens by chance, but really strong players can intentionally cause the ball to ricochet from a peg and into the bucket. By earning balls from points and bucket shots, players can recover from a bad situation and end up beating even the toughest levels.

Campaign

In the original Peggle campaign, players progressed through 50-odd levels. Every few levels they would play as a new Peggle Master – cartoonish animal characters. After beating the game, you could play a separate Challenge Mode in which old levels received new, harder goals. A lot of people called it quits without touching Challenge Mode though, including me.

Peggle 2 creates a more cohesive experience by wrapping everything up within the new campaign. There are five sets of levels – one for each Peggle Master, now with a short story sequence between each set. Following the five main sets, players will take on a super tough sixth batch of celestial levels using the Master of their choice.

Every normal level in the campaign now has three Optional Objectives to complete. Two of those challenges will always be clearing all pegs in the level and reaching a certain Ace score. The third challenge varies by level. A good player will often complete one or more challenges on his or her first attempt, but some challenges will take many, many tries to knock out. At least you’ll earn a special outfit for the level’s Peggle Master if you finish enough of them.

New to the campaign are Peggle Trials. After the fifth level of each Master’s standard level set, you’ll always encounter a special trial level. These include such challenges as making a Super Long Shot or destroying a batch of pegs with a single ball. Once the player beats all of a Master’s standard levels, a batch of 10 trials will then unlock for that master. Beat them all to unlock a new outfit for that set’s Master, plus an Achievement.

All told, the new campaign is more interesting and filled with replay value than before. Instead of finishing it once and forgetting about whatever unlocks afterward, you’ll be more motivated to replay levels and take on Trials this time out.

Peggle Masters

The first Peggle offered 10 Peggle masters to play as, but the new game cuts the roster down to five. Bjorn the unicorn returns with his trusty but not flashy Super Guide ability. The other four masters: Jeffrey the Troll (a Big Lebowski parody), Berg the Yeti, Luna the Ghost, and Gnorman the Gnome are all-new. Each has an original special ability, with Gnorman’s proving the most useful overall.

Their new characters look great, with cartoon-quality character designs and lots of amusing animations. Opinions on how they sound will be mixed. Gnorman and Jeffrey’s voice samples get on my nerves. PopCap’s sound team usually turns in a perfect performance, and the new music and overall sound quality certainly lives up to their reputation... Just not those awful grunts that Gnorman makes.

Multiplayer

Peggle 2 launches with a single competitive online multiplayer mode. Before anyone cries foul about the lack of local multiplayer, know that the first Peggle on PC has no multiplayer at all. PopCap added local multiplayer to the iOS version, but otherwise it has never been a core feature of the game. Peggle is all about going through the campaign and trying the various side challenges on offer. Playing against others (in versions that support it) is just a bonus.

That said, PopCap recently announced that the iOS version’s popular Duels mode will come to Peggle 2 in the near future. Duels will allow two players to compete on the same playing field either on the same console or online. Should be fun!

I wish I could tell you how good the current multiplayer mode is. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work for many players – including me. Instead of traditional matchmaking or browsing open games, Peggle 2 offers two options: Smart Match or Private Game.

Smart Match (which evolved from a similar feature in Street Fighter IV) basically makes matchmaking take place in the background while the player does other things. You can play single-player or just sit at the title screen, and before long a match will come up.

Choose to accept the match and you should be in for some delightful online Peggle action. But for whatever reason, my console never successfully joins a game. It sits there for an excruciating 90 seconds in which I can do nothing, not even cancel the matchmaking attempt. Finally, the message “Failed to Join a Game” pops up. You can see the process in our video review below. Hopefully PopCap fixes these connectivity woes when they add Duels mode.

Update: In March 2014, Peggle 2 received a multiplayer update that fixed Peg Party and added Duels mode (playable locally or online). Check out our impressions and video here.

Room for Improvement

Besides the partially broken multiplayer, Peggle 2 shows a few other rough edges as well. Colorblind mode (a standard option in the first game) is nowhere to be found. How will hamsters and horses be able to enjoy the new game? Oh, I guess colorblind people are out of luck at the moment too.

An omission that affects all of us is the lack of leaderboards. Peggle is traditionally a score-based game, with much of the replay value coming from besting not only the Ace Scores but also one’s personal best scores. Peggle 2 has no leaderboard support at all, so you can’t even see your own high scores, let alone other players’. Leaderboards are such an obvious feature, I can only assume PopCap left them out due to the launch game rush. Let’s hope they show up in the game soon.

One last annoyance: this game records clips constantly! It happens so often that it must be a bug. You can't turn off sharing within the game, either. The only way to prevent it from spamming your friends is by turning the console's video recording off entirely.

Achievements

The new Peggle has 28 Achievements worth a total of 1,000 GamerScore. The only tough ones involve finishing every Trial (reasonable) and completing all 180 Optional Objectives. The latter will take many hours of attempts – I’ve spent more than an hour on a single level before. Luckily the game is crazy fun and the GamerScore rewards are so much higher than the original Xbox 360 Peggle’s.

The Optional Objective Achievements have been glitchy for some players, though reportedly they will still unlock if you keep playing enough levels. See this guide for details.

Overall Impression

Peggle 2 is exactly what most gamers want from a next-gen sequel: everything that we loved about the first game, a few structural improvements, and vastly improved graphics and sound. The new campaign does a great job of encouraging players to go after the Optional Objectives and Trials. Most importantly, the gameplay is as fun and approachable as ever.

As long as PopCap adds the missing features and gets online multiplayer working for everyone, Peggle 2 will become just as much of an enduring classic as the original. Every Xbox One owner should have it. Let’s hope this one comes to Windows Phone someday as well!

• Peggle 2– Xbox One – 1.72 GB - $11.99 – Xbox.com Store Link

On top of a stellar Red Stripe Deal this week (Chaos Rings), Windows Phone gamers have another Xbox game sale to tempt their wallets. 10 Electronic Arts games are on sale for 30-40 percent off.

The most exciting discount comes in Plants vs. Zombies, a terrific game that hardly ever goes on sale. Both it and Bejeweled Live are three bucks. A slew of games that regularly sell for $2.99 will ring up for $1.99 instead this week, including: Battleship, Blobster, The Game of LIFE, iBomber Defense (ugh), Jet Set Go, Spy Mouse, Tetris, and Yahtzee.

Descriptions and Store Links after the break!

Plants vs. Zombies (Windows Phone 7 and 8)

Regular price: $4.99 Sale price: $2.99 Download size: 82 MB Store Link

Alright, so iOS and Android are enjoying Plants vs. Zombies 2 while Windows Phone users languish with the first game. That is regrettable. But on the other hand, the original Plants vs. Zombies is a game that everyone needs to play. I get the feeling that some of you still haven’t tried it yet, in which case this sale gives you the perfect excuse to snag it up already. How else will PopCap know that we want the sequel?

Plants vs. Zombies is a tower defense game like no other. Zombies are invading the player’s home, and only a host of attack plants will fend them off. The variety of towers, err, plants at your disposal (49 in all!) is amazing and allows for all kinds of strategies.

Adventure Mode’s 50 levels will take a fair while to plow through, but that’s only half the game. 19 unlockable minigames really do flesh out the package and keep the fun going. Even when you’re not playing, don’t be surprised if the catchy soundtrack (including a brilliant music video during the end credits) gets stuck in your head. Check out our full review and developer interview for more information.

Battleship (Windows Phone 7 and 8)

Regular price: $2.99 Sale price: $1.99 Download size: 46 MB Store Link

Battleship is an adaptation of the popular board game from Milton Bradley. In the Classic game type, two sides take turns blindly firing at each other, trying to find and destroy the other’s ships. Yawn! Salvo mode works much like classic, but moves faster than traditional games because you’re allowed to fire as many shots per turn as you have remaining ships. So much better. The new Superweapon mode adds a variety of weapons to the gameplay, mixing up the traditional dynamics.

This was actually the first Xbox Windows Phone game to support online multiplayer. However, said multiplayer is super buggy and the whole game is super slow and takes forever to load. Check out our review for the scoop.

Bejeweled Live (Windows Phone 7 and 8)

Regular price: $4.99 Sale price: $2.99 Download size: 46 MB Store Link

Bejeweled is the classic match-3 puzzle game that has enchanted casual gamers across a variety of platforms. If you’re hungry for a simple puzzle game to play whenever a spare moment pops up, Bejeweled is a good place to look. As our review indicates, the Windows Phone version has three ways to play: Classic, Race the Clock, and Endless. It’s also got some tough and grindy Achievements despite being a casual title, but that’s PopCap games for you.

Unless you just want the Achievements, I would strongly suggest you skip this one and buy Bejeweled Live+ instead. It’s $3 all the time and a much better game to boot. See our Live+ review if you need convincing.

Blobster (Windows Phone 7 and 8)

Regular price: $2.99 Sale price: $1.99 Download size: 13 MB Store Link

This is the first time that former Nokia exclusive Blobster has gone on sale. A casual platforming game, players control a little blob who must stop the Big and Powerful Corporation from polluting the land of Blobtopia.

Let’s be honest, Blobster is not the most impressive game in the Windows Phone lineup. The backgrounds are completely flat and the rest of the visuals lack flair as well. But the Achievements are pretty quick and easy, as Arsenic 17’s Achievement Guide reveals. Maybe you’ll soldier through it for the GamerScore.

The Game of LIFE (Windows Phone 7 and 8)

Regular price: $2.99 Sale price: $1.99 Download size: 23 MB Store Link

The Game of Life brings the popular board game to your phone. It simulates a person’s path through life, from getting a first job, going to college, getting married, having kids, and eventually retiring. Players spin a wheel for movement, collect ‘Share the Wealth’ cards that help them or hinder opponents, and occasionally choose between different life paths to follow.

The Windows Phone port supports single- or local multiplayer – no online play, unfortunately. But the Achievements are fairly easy and the game itself is decently interesting for a few playthroughs. Check out our review for lots of details.

iBomber Defense (Windows Phone 7 and 8)

Regular price: $2.99 Sale price: $1.99 Download size: 71 MB Store Link

I don’t say this often, but here’s a game nobody should buy. Scottish developer Cobra ported iBomber Defense and Storm in a Teacup to Windows Phone. Both came out pretty bad, but iBomber Defense is the worse of the two.

What would otherwise be a by-the-numbers but fun World War II-themed tower defense game is ruined by extreme bugginess and poor frame rates. The game crashes so much, it makes several of the overly difficult Achievements just about impossible. Even after several updates, iBomber Defense remains a buggy mess. See our review for more glitch-filled horror stories.

Jet Set Go (Windows Phone 7 and 8)

Regular price: $2.99 Sale price: $1.99 Download size: 40 MB Store Link

This marks the first time that former Nokia exclusive Jet Set Go has been on sale.

Jet Set Go is a time management game that looks quite a lot like Sally’s Salon. This one has a less feminine theme though, so even insecure male gamers will be able to play it! Instead of running a salon or a day spa, the game puts players in charge of a travel agency. Guys travel too!

Tending to the various customers involves a variety of light travel-themed minigames like choosing destinations, hotels, itineraries, and more. Keep them happy and you’ll rake in the money. Earnings can then be spent on upgrades to increase your agency’s appeal.

The game stretches on a bit long and requires a bit of grinding, but otherwise the Achievements are fairly easy. See our review for more information.

Spy Mouse (Windows Phone 7 and 8)

Regular price: $2.99 Sale price: $1.99 Download size: 111 MB Store Link

Spy Mouse's developer Firemint is best known for popularizing the line-drawing genre with Flight Control. In this one, they’ve utilized that line drawing tech to make a stealth game. Players control the titular mouse by drawing a path around each level. He’ll need to grab cheese and reach the level exit without being nabbed by patrolling cats.

Each level has three optional goals such as not being spotted, drawing only one continuous path, and finishing within a certain time limit. Completing every level with those goals completed will net some tasty Achievements.

Tetris (Windows Phone 7 and 8)

Regular price: $2.99 Sale price: $1.99 Download size: 10 MB Store Link

The Windows Phone version of Tetris was actually quite slick back when it launched in 2010. It’s got great visuals and a good remix of the classic Tetris theme ‘Korobeiniki.’ There are numerous gameplay variants such as Gravity and Radical that add a bit of variety to the game we’ve all played a million times before.

Some have complained about the touch screen controls (swipe left and right to steer, tap to rotate, and swipe down to drop pieces), but I find them to be natural and effective enough. Many of us older players are basically done with Tetris, having played it to death on GameBoy and DS (the best version) ages ago. But hey, maybe you still need a falling block puzzle game in your life.

Yahtzee (Windows Phone 7 and 8)

Regular price: $2.99 Sale price: $1.99 Download size: 24 MB Store Link

Sure the clone game Yahtzy is free today, but Achievement hunters will prefer to stick with the real thing. Single-player Yahtzee is kind of boring and the CPU cheats like a mother. But the presentation is good, and did I mention Achievements?

Will you be buying some of these sale games, dear readers?

Time was we posted an article about a new Xbox Windows Phone game (or games!) every week like clockwork. Those days are long behind us, never to return again. But I do get to write about the weekly Xbox console releases, which is almost as fun. And this week we actually do have a new Xbox Windows Phone game, on the unusual day of Friday: FIFA 14 from Electronic Arts! We hear a last-minute bug kept it from releasing on Wednesday.

FIFA 14 is the latest in EA’s extremely popular football/soccer sports series. Last year’s FIFA 13 was originally a Nokia exclusive, and only just became available to all Windows Phone users a month ago. Now all of us (with phones that have 1 GB or more RAM) can enjoy this year’s rosters and new features. And unlike FIFA 13– which sells for $4.99, this year’s game is free to play. More details and Store link after the break!

Features

• REAL PLAYERS. REAL TEAMS. REAL LEAGUES: Welcome to the most authentic football game on Windows Phone 8. Feel the excitement of every pass, shot, and tackle with new touch controls. Plus, live every moment of real-world football mastery with EA SPORTS™ Football Club Match Day.
• FEEL THE PASSION: Featuring 34 leagues, over 600 licensed teams, and more than 16,000 players. From the English Premier League to La Liga and beyond. Plus, for the first time on mobile, listen to commentaries in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish!
• BUILD YOUR ULTIMATE TEAM: Earn and trade, or buy and sell FIFA players to create your own fantasy team. Choose your play style, formation, kits, and more. Compete in tournaments to earn coins, then spend them on new players and items to improve your team. Play for free or purchase packs. The choices are endless!
• FIFA FANATICS: Classic modes like Manager, and Kick Off are available for purchase in-game.

Good free to play or bad free to play?

Unless you have a conservative mindset, there’s good free to play and bad free to play. Gameloft’s Real Soccer 2013 is what we call the bad kind, a game that asks for money at every turn and is extremely difficult to enjoy without paying. Is FIFA 14 better then?

Yes! The main game mode is Ultimate Team Mode, in which players manage a team and play its games throughout the season. That’s all you get for free, but make the “Unlock All” purchase and you’ll get Exhibition, Tournament, and Manager modes. Pretty much the same as just buying the game outright.

During the normal Ultimate Team Mode experience, you’ll also have the option of buying packs of cards to use for managing the team’s roster, upgrading their skills, and more. But you never have to pay real money if you don’t want to – the cards can be bought with soft currency earned through playing games. So FIFA 14 sounds like the good kind of free to play overall, and worth a download.

• FIFA 14– Windows Phone 8 (1 GB of RAM or higher) – 888 MB – Free – Store Link

Peggle 2, PopCap’s long-anticipated follow-up to their casual hit Peggle, launched as a timed Xbox One exclusive back in December. As I mentioned in our review, the multiplayer features weren’t quite ready at that time. The online Peg Party mode simply didn’t work for me and many other players, nor was the promised local multiplayer mode available. Still a great game, but players definitely missed the multiplayer.

This week, Peggle 2 finally got its multiplayer features via title update. Not only does the 4-player Peg Party actually work now, but the new 2-player Duels mode can be played locally or online! Is multiplayer the grape jelly that Peggle 2’s peanut butter sandwich needed in order to be delicious? Check out our impressions, screenshots, and hands-on gameplay video after the break!

Duels Mode

The Duels mode is new to Peggle 2, but it has previously appeared in mobile versions of the original Peggle– which sadly never made its way to Windows Phone. After entering the multiplayer menu, players can choose from Local Duel and both private and public online Duels. When playing locally, you’ll need two controllers and a second Xbox Live profile (which doesn’t have to be Gold).

Each player chooses her character from the game’s selection of five Peggle Masters, though you may also opt for a random character. The host can select the level and opt to adjust a few options, such as how many green pegs appear in the level, the length of the shot timer, and set the number of rounds (turns) for the match. Then the duel begins!

In Duels mode, both players take turns on the same game board. Your goal is to outscore the other player, so you really have to make each turn count. However many green pegs the host selected, only one of them appears at a time. Hitting a green peg in order to activate your character’s power can mean the difference between winning and losing, so be sure to go after them whenever they appear.

Duels mode suits Peggle 2 very well. Even when it’s not your turn, watching the other player’s shot (and hoping she misses) proves quite entertaining.

Peg Party

This 4-player mode (which first appeared in the original Peggle on Xbox 360) is only available online. Select Smart Match and Peg Party, then sit back or play a little single-player while the matchmaking does its magic. Shortly thereafter, you’ll be notified that your online game is ready to begin.

In Peg Party, all four players get their own boards. Each player gets one shot per round, with the goal of outscoring the competition. You can see tiny versions of the other players’ boards off to the side, or zoom in on them after completing your turn.

The game declares a winner for each round, creating a highly competitive atmosphere as the match nears its conclusion. Exclusive artwork of the lead Peggle Master appears between rounds as well, which should please fans of the game’s beautiful character designs. After the predetermined number of rounds wraps up, only on Peggle Master will be crowned the victor. Everyone can then choose to stay in the host’s lobby and play another game with the group if they like.

Almost perfect

The multiplayer update makes Peggle 2 better than ever. Even after you’ve completed the game’s 60 levels, mastered each level’s challenges, and unlocked all of the character outfits, you can still come back for Peggle fun with friends.

The update does not add new Achievements – not a big surprise since it’s a free update. But it doesn’t address Peggle 2’s two chief weaknesses, either. The game still lacks leaderboards, severely impacting its single-player replay value. And “Color Blind Mode" (a seemingly simple addition) remains MIA as well. Hopefully PopCap will address those issues in a future update.

If you're still rocking an Xbox 360 and haven't moved on to the Xbox One yet, don't despair. Electronic Arts recently announced that Peggle 2 will be coming to Xbox 360 (complete with Duels mode) on May 7!

• Peggle 2– Xbox One – 1.69 GB - $11.99 – Xbox.com Store Link

This March 11, PC and Xbox One gamers around the globe will be suiting up for Titanfall; the game that will mark the largest launch thus far for Microsoft’s Xbox One console library. Unfortunately, if you live in South Africa and have preordered Titanfall, you will not actually get to play it, as Electronic Arts has canceled the game’s launch there.

If you preordered the game via Origin in South Africa, you will be receiving an email stating that the Titanfall team has “decided not to releases Titanfall there at this time”. The email cites that after conducting internet testing, the team has determined that the available internet would not be fast enough to “guarantee a great experience.”

For those wondering, only PC orders for Titanfall in South Africa have been canceled – Xbox One has yet to launch within the country.

Do we have any readers from South Africa that preordered Titanfall for their PC?

Source: MP1ST; via Neowin

Following Microsoft's great Media Briefing this morning, Electronic Arts put on a press conference of its own. EA did a fine job with their conference last year, the highlight of which for me was the announcement of Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare for Xbox consoles. Could this year's announcements hope to compete with that?

The 2014 presentation was handled by Andrew Wilson, Electronic Arts CEO. Disappointingly we didn't get to hear from fan-favorite Peter Moore this year. But we did learn about a ton of incredible games, including Star Wars Battlefront, Dragon Age Inquisition, a new Mass Effect, The Sims 4, Mirror's Edge 2, Battlefield Hardline, and more. Full Impressions after the break!

Star Wars Battlefront by DICE

EA chose to start strong by teasing the new Star Wars Battlefront game. Battlefront is multiplayer-centric series that was hugely popular during the Playstation 2 and original Xbox era. After LucasArts cancelled Star Wars Battlefront 3 mid-development, it seemed that the series would disappear forever… Until EA acquired the Star Wars license and rescued the series following LucasArts' closure.

The teaser video revealed very little information about the new Battlefront (which will not have a 3 in its title). We saw the staff of DICE visiting the Star Wars archives in order to photograph (and scan?) photos and models from the films. Hoth (the setting of The Empire Strikes Back) will be one of the game's main locations, naturally. The important thing is that DICE has tons of experience with its own Battlefield series of large-scale multiplayer shooters, so the team's skillset transfers perfectly to Star Wars Battlefront.

Dragon Age Inquisition by Bioware

First teased at last year's press conference, we finally got an idea of what the third Dragon Age will play like. But first EA teased us more with a trailer that showed various glimpses of the game's fantasy world. Highlights included a green beam of energy descending from the clouds, a third-person view of a character navigating a city, and a dragon.

Players will create their own main character in Inquisition, one whose past and motivations are shrouded in mystery. Presumably you'll fill in the blanks as you play the game and make choices that affect the story.

The main character will be accompanied by a team as with past games. Some of its members include a bearded Gray Warden, a female elfish archer, a brawny Kunari mercenary who fights with a giant hammer, and a dark-skinned female mage. Each of these teammates will have his or her own unique backstory to discover as the game progresses.

Inquisition's combat debuted via actual gameplay footage. Players can choose between two combat systems: action and tactical. Action looked very exciting, with the team working together to take down a dragon. The behind-the-back camera switched between various party members, seemingly at the player's will. We didn't get much of a look at tactical mode, but it utilizes an overhead perspective and pauses between turns like in traditional RPGs.

More from Bioware: Mass Effect, new IP

Bioware (which includes the proper Montreal studio as well as EA's Austin studio) is also hard at work on two more games: a new Mass Effect, and a brand-new IP. Nothing was revealed about the new Mass Effect other than plans to feature new places, characters, and regions of space.

As for the new IP, we glimpsed a fantasy world with day, night, and weather cycles – and that's it. I'm sure EA will reveal more later this year or at E3 next year.

New IP by Criterion

Criterion is the UK-based studio that created the Burnout series of racing games as well as developing some Need for Speed titles. Although the studio doesn't have a new Burnout in the works, the game it's working on actually looks much more exciting. It doesn't have a name though!

The new game will still feature lots of driving…. Just not so many cars. Instead, players will get to drive or pilot an unrivaled array of vehicles, including helicopters, boats, jetskis, ATVs, wingsuits, parachutes, and snowmobiles! And the whole game will take place in the first-person perspective – possibly without the option to switch to a third-person view.

Presumably we'll get to crash some of those vehicles as well. But the game is still very early in development (as evidenced by the lack of title), so specific details are still scarce. This will be Criterion's largest title ever – let's hope the fun matches the increase in scope!

Mirror's Edge 2 by DICE

Like Dragon Age, our first tease of Mirror's Edge 2 came during last year's press conference. The new video introduction focused on the design of Faith, the same protagonist from the first game. She dresses in black and white and has minimal dabs of color as accents. And she is a runner, someone who uses parkour to deliver information while evading the oppressive governmental authorities.

After talking Faith up a bit, DICE shared some lovely prototype footage from the game. Unlike the Windows Phone game, Mirror's Edge 2 takes place in a first-person perspective. Faith will run, jump, and slide across rooftops, scaffolding, and zip-lines as she crosses levels that feature multiple routes. She also engages in melee combat, punching and kicking the evil police who would thwart her mission.

Being that Mirror's Edge 2 is still in the prototype stage, we shouldn't expect it until 2015.

Battlefield Hardline by Visceral

It looks like EA plans to make Battlefield an annualized series, just like its biggest competitor Call of Duty. Since DICE is busy with Star Wars Battlefront and Mirror's Edge 2, the development duties go to Visceral Games (formerly EA Redwood Shores) – makers of the Dead Space series.

Hardline is a major departure from the traditional military settings of the Battlefield series. The new focus is the war on the streets between cops and criminals. That means new worlds, weapons, and ways to play. Players will be able to play on either side and engage in both a campaign and large-scale multiplayer matches. The campaign will be more cinematic than other FPS titles, playing out like a televised crime drama.

EA showed footage from a 32-player game of Heist, a new multiplayer mode. Despite being multiplayer, the Heist started out with a conversation between cops being news footage of a major heist in progress. It looked cool and seemed to build off of Titanfall's story-based multiplayer concepts.

Once the game starts, the criminal side of the game must collect a package and escape with it while the cops try to stop them. The two sides will fight it out on foot as well as utilizing vehicles, a staple of the series. We saw player-controller police cars, Armored Personnel Carriers, bikes, and helicopters. The destructible environments that featured so heavily in Battlefield 4 return, with a crane or similar structure crashing through a building and causing major havoc on the battlefield.

When the footage focused on the criminals, we caught side of the bad guys fighting off cops with baseball bats, sawed off shotguns, and other appropriate armaments. The crooks escaped from a skyscraper via zipline to another rooftop where their helicopter anxiously awaited. Although the bad team managed to take off in their chopper, the match didn't end there. The cops shot them down and we saw the fall from one of the crooks' perspectives.

Battlefield Hardline is due out on Xbox One, 360, PC, and Playstation systems on October 21. Hopefully it won't suffer from persistent technical issues like Battlefield 4. To that end, EA announced that a closed beta for the game starts today. Bad news for Xbox enthusiasts: the beta is only for PC and Playstation 4! To sign up, head to battlefield.com/hardline/beta.

And more

Electronic Arts also showed The Sims 4 (pictured) and a MOBA called Dawngate for PC, plus several sports games: EA Sports UFC (which looks great), NHL 15, EA Sports PGA Tour, Madden NFL 15, and FIFA 15. Check out our EA Sports write-up for more details!

Overall, the conference was quite impressive despite a woeful lack of plants and zombies. Andrew Wilson repeatedly stressed the corporation's desire to listen to players and react to their feedback. "Tell us what you think. We embrace the honest and open dialogue," he intoned. Hopefully EA makes good on that mantra and continues to deliver player-pleasing titles throughout the next year and beyond.

Electronic Arts announced a bevy of core games during its E3 press conference earlier today – check out our full write-up. But EA's sports franchises are just as popular as their core franchises. And EA Sports UFC will have a great deal of crossover appeal thanks to its impressive one-on-one fighting gameplay and amazingly lifelike graphics.

Although EA publishes games based on a variety of sports, the driving theme among all of their sports titles (especially the yearly entries to the core series) was emotion. New-gen consoles like the Xbox One will allow each game's characters to express greater emotion than ever before. These extra-emotive characters will populate FIFA 15, Madden NFL 15, NHL 15, and EA Sports PGA Tour. Full impressions after the break!

EA Sports UFC by EA Canada

With THQ - the former publisher of UFC games having gone out of business, Electronic Arts is now gearing up to release its first UFC title. UFC of course stands for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the largest mixed-martial arts competitive organization in the world. If you want to see a Judo fighter battling against a Karate practitioner live or on television, it's probably going to be a UFC match.

To launch the new UFC game franchise, EA has made the unusual move of licensing deceased martial arts master Bruce Lee's likeness for the game. This creates a whole new type of uncanny valley – Lee died well before the UFC even existed, and couldn't have consented to appearing in the game. But his family gives the go-ahead, and the rest of us have to make peace with that.

During the press conference, EA showed off an in-game fight between Bruce Lee and Jon Jones, a living UFC light heavyweight champion. You couldn't help noticing the incredible likeness of both fighters. EA Sports UFC is exclusive to Xbox One and Playstation 4, so the character models can feature more detail than ever before. It really is amazing, seeing a virtual Bruce Lee darting about the game's ring. The character models even show the damage they take from round to round.

The combat looked fluid and quite brutal. During one especially cool move, Lee jumped off the wall of the fight cage and jump kicked poor Jones. We also glimpsed Jones knocking Lee to the ground as he attempted a submission. The submission controls will be an interesting and unique aspect of EA UFC – hopefully they're not too hard to master. Of course the Dragon escaped from Jones' hold and won the fight. A cinematic instant replay followed.

We won't have to wait long to find out how EA Sports UFC stacks up to previous UFC games – this oen arrives on Xbox One and Playstation 4 on June 17th.

NHL 15 by EA Canada

What does the new ice hockey game have to offer? Well, every player on the ice now has realistic physics and can display emotions. The first in-game footage of the new NHL looked extremely sharp, although you never know whether early footage of EA's Sports games are genuine or not.

I was surprised that EA didn't discuss modes or new game play features; all we heard about was physics and emotions. We'll have to wait until later this year to find out whether the actual game differs much from last year's iteration.

EA Sports PGA Tour by EA Tiburon

Golfing fans have wondered how EA would handle its golfing franchise after severing ties with Tiger Woods, popular womanizer and sports personality, last year. Well folks, the show must go on! Hence the series returns this year as EA Sports PGA Tour. That's a fitting title, considering the series actually started out as PGA Tour Golf in 1990.

The new PGA Tour utilizes DICE's Frostbite 3 Engine, the same tech that powers Battlefield 4 and Hardline as well as Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare. Not only does it look fantastic, but players will supposedly be able to explore every inch of a course as well. "Golf without limits," EA calls it.

If you're like me and enjoy golf games but find them too aesthetically boring, PGA Tour has you covered. The new game will feature not only real courses but also "Extreme fantasy courses." How extreme are we talking about? We saw a course that takes place on a beach. In the water were battleships from Battlefield 4! Players can even knock balls over the battleships. That's zany and right up my alley.

EA Sports PGA Tour will arrive on Xbox One and Playstation 4 in Spring 2015.

Madden NFL 15

Another year, another Madden football game. The series traditionally evolves via small steps, with a new feature or two coming along in each new sequel.

This year's innovations revolve primarily around the defensive game. New camera angles make reading the offense and attacking them easier. Defenders have more control now; they can push opponents in multiple directions as needed. The tackles have been redesigned for more consistent results, with a tackle cone helping to aim.

Remember EA plans to make its sports characters more touchy feely this year? The players in Madden have hundreds of new emotions and reactions. These reactions will replace old scripted scenes, which seems to imply that the new ones are somehow not scripted. And new reaction cameras that are directed by real NFL director will capture those player emotions for all the world to see and feel.

Madden NFL 15 is playable at E3, which pretty much means the footage we saw at the press conference is the for real deal. And football fans will get to play it when it arrives on Xbox One, 360, and Playstation consoles on August 26.

EA Sports FIFA 15

Of all the sports games highlighted during EA's press conference, FIFA 15 seems to be the most emotional. Well, the players will be crazy emotional. EA promises that we'll "feel the emotion of football like never before." Football/soccer is quite an emotional game outside of the US. That emotion causes hooligans to riot and beat each other up. Awful stuff, but it would be darkly amusing to see captured in a video game. But I don't think EA and FIFA want to go quite that far in their games.

Anyway, FIFA 15's players (not the fans) will have what EA calls emotional intelligence. Each dude on the field has his own memory during the match and will show emotion based on the match's context. So they act happy when things go well and fall down dejectedly when the other side scores a goal. Like Madden, these reactions seem to be less scripted in nature than they were in past games.

The new game also features a "living pitch," meaning that the field itself is less static than before. The turf shows footprints and even tears as soccer dudes run around on it, and things can actually get dirty. Both the ball and the goal frame have realistic physics – the frame will shake when impacted by a ball. Presumably these effects will be more prominent on the newer consoles, if they are even present on older ones.

FIFA 15 comes to Xbox One, 360, and Playstation consoles in both regular and "Ultimate Editions" on September 23.

The Xbox One is overflowing with downloadable games lately thanks to the ID@Xbox program. Last week we got Outlast and Sixty Second Shooter Prime, and today Zombie Driver Ultimate Edition had a surprise launch. But when the new console launched last year, players only had a few downloadable games to choose from. The first such title to qualify as a hit was undoubtedly Peggle 2 from Electronic Arts and PopCap. The game later arrived on Xbox 360 as well.

One of Peggle 2's few weaknesses compared to the original is that it launched with only five Peggle Masters (playable characters). Today EA alleviated such complaints by releasing a new downloadable content pack for the Xbox One version: "Jimmy Lightning's Bigger, Better Balls." This follows "Windy's Master Pack" from back in April. Both DLCs add new characters, levels, and Achievements – for the low price of $2 per pack.

Get the new characters

To get the new characters, you'll first have to download a title update. Once that's out of the way, head to the new Store option from the game's main menu. You'll find descriptions for both DLC packs. Prospective buyers can even watch a short preview video for each Master that highlights that character's special shot and unlockable outfits.

Having purchased one or both characters, you'll find their new levels by heading to Single Player and then scrolling all the way to the right, past the Celestial Realm levels. From there, you'll see a "More Adventure!" icon that leads to the new DLC level sets.

Both Windy and Jimmy Lightning each come with 10 new adventure levels, increasing the game's total number of adventure levels to 80. Completing one of the new character's sets will unlock his or her Trials levels. Players can unlock three extra outfits per character by finishing that Master's Adventure and Trials, as well as completing most of the secondary Adventure objectives.

Character spotlight

The first downloadable Peggle Master is new to the series. She is a combination bird and fairy – a bird with fairy wings and a wand, basically. By shooting a green peg to activate Windy's special skill "Fairy Flock," a swarm of four pink butterflies will erupt and turn random pegs into purple pegs. Hitting more than one purple peg during a level will get you a huge score boost and likely an extra life or two.

Today's new Master Jimmy Lightning is actually a returning character from the first game. You might remember him as the totally rad skateboarding chipmunk. Jimmy's special skill is the pinball-like Multiball. It causes three balls to bounce around the level, hopefully hitting lots of pegs along the way. A new spotlight effect adds some welcome flair to the ball bouncing action.

Achievements and more

Each character DLC adds three new Achievements worth a total of 225 GamerScore. The Achievements are for beating that character's Adventure levels, Trials levels, and for completing all of the new secondary objectives (the main game's objectives must be finished first). Nothing creative, but they certainly provide incentive to run through and master all of the new content.

Along with the previous update comes a new feature that we requested in our original review: Colorblind mode! Enable the setting from the Options menu to make little symbols appear inside of the purple and green pegs during gameplay. This allows colorblind gamers to tell those pegs apart from regular red ones.

The only significant Peggle 2 criticism that EA has yet to address is the Xbox One version's lack of leaderboards. In-game leaderboards are a standard feature in modern games, allowing competitive gamers to compare their scores against others and try to outdo them. Leaderboards an really add a lot of replay value to score-based games like Peggle 2. It's strange that Peggle 2 still has no leaderboards, especially since the Xbox 360 version that launched in May does have them.

Leaderboards aside, Peggle 2 fans will get plenty of fun from the new DLC packs. The number of levels and Achievements you get for the price is surprisingly fair. Xbox One players should grab the DLC from within the game itself, as we can't buy Xbox One DLC from Xbox.com just yet (argh). The Xbox 360 version hasn't gotten the DLC yet; hopefully EA brings the new Masters to that version soon as well.

• Peggle 2 – Xbox One – 2.1 GB - $11.99 – Xbox.com Store Link

With so many new press conferences going on during E3 this year, the established publishers face more pressure than ever to deliver a good show. Last year, Electronic Arts'press conference left something to be desired. They just didn't have a lot of games far enough along to be shown, and so we got lots of concept art and teases rather than substantial presentations.

Luckily, EA came to E3 2015 with a much better presentation and several compelling playable games. This year's lineup of titles includes Need for Speed, an impressive Star Wars: The Old Republic expansion, Unravel, Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2, and the heavy hitter Star Wars Battlefront. On the mobile front, Minions Paradise looks like a fun game for the city building crowd.

Read on for our breakdown of EA's E3 2015 software lineup!

Need for Speed

During EA's E3 press conference, the mega publisher explained that its latest Need for Speed will celebrate and combine 20 years of series history to create "the definitive Need for Speed experience." Fancy talk for what amounts to another sequel, albeit one with better than ever production values.

The new Need for Speed features an open world environment, much like NFS: Rivals. The in-game map weighs in at twice the size of that game's, however. Players will once again cruise around challenging other racers and joining in different event types, all while avoiding the cops.

Like most of EA's new slate of games, Need for Speed is built on Dice's Frostbite Engine. The in-game footage we saw certainly looked quite a bit better than 2013's Need for Speed Rivals. This demo featured a race type called Drift Attack. Taking place at night, it had a very cinematic feeling. The new-gen lighting effects especially stood out.

Apparently fans have been asking for more customization options in the Need for Speed series for years. At last, they'll get a robust customization offering to rival more serious racing games like the Forza series. The interface for swapping parts out won't be accused of sterility – it's as flashy as the rest of the game.

Need for Speed will race onto Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Windows on November 3rd this year.

Star Wars: The Old Republic

The Old Republic is a massively multiplayer online RPG (MMORPG) set within BioWare's "Old Republic" era of the Star Wars universe. The game has received some criticism for not delivering enough of the story-focused gameplay that players of the original Knights of the Old Republic loved. 'Knights of the Fallen Empire' aims to fix that.

Coming on October 22nd, the 'Knights of the Fallen Empire' expansion is all about the classic KOTOR experience. It centers on a battle against a dangerous new faction (whose identity has yet to be revealed). The player's choices will apparently determine how the Galactic Republic and Sith Empire fare against this new threat.

EA promises nine chapters of Bioware-style storytelling in the new expansion. Players will get to explore new worlds, meet new companions, and make dynamic choices that affect the outcome of the story.

'Knights of the Fallen Empire' will be free to all Old Republic subscribers. Gamers who play Old Republic for free will need to purchase the expansion.

You can try Star Wars: The Old Republic for Windows now at StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com.

Unravel

Giant publishers like EA and Activision tend to crank out nothing but big budget AAA titles and sequels nowadays. That's what makes Unravel so exciting. Unravel is essentially an indie title developed by Swedish team Coldwood that EA has picked up as publisher.

The game stars Yarnie, a character made from a single thread of red yarn. The developer constructed a real-life Yarnie doll and took photographs of him in various environments to conceptualize the game.

Coldwood believes that games should do more than just entertain us. They need to be personal and made with heart. In the case of Unravel, Yarnie himself unravels as he moves throughout each level. The yarn represents love and the way we feel when we travel and become separated from people we love. Artistic!

Unravel is a puzzle platformer built around Yarnie's unraveling nature and powers. For instance, Yarnie can swing around on his yarn to reach new places. In one exciting sequence, he ropes a fish and uses it to pull his raft through a river. He also has to deal with enemies like a rampaging guinea pig, truly one of nature's most dangerous creatures.

Unravel will launch as a downloadable title for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Windows on an unspecified date. I gave Unravel a spin and really enjoyed it – see my impressions story for more info.

Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2

The existence of a new Garden Warfare game should come as no surprise. EA says that the original game has had over six million players – a number probably bolstered by the game's free status to EA Access members on Xbox One and PlayStation Plus members on PlayStation 4. Still, many players really dug Garden Warfare, including me.

The original Garden Warfare has been criticized for its lack of single-player content. Even the split-screen co-op mode kind of stinks. Garden Warfare 2 won't be introducing a campaign, sadly. But it will allow gamers to enjoy all game types in single-player or 2-player split-screen. That should help!

Although Garden Warfare featured two playable factions (plants and zombies), only the plants were playable in the 4-player co-op Garden Ops mode. Garden Warfare 2 adds a new zombie equivalent mode called zombie ops. The narrative explanation: zombie leader Dr. Zomboss has discovered a way to turn the tide of battle and take over Suburbia. The plants must go on the attack to stop him.

Garden Warfare features six new playable classes – three for each side. EA showcased the new zombie characters during the show, with more information on the plants coming at a later date. The Imp is the smallest and fastest zombie. Super Brainz dresses like a superhero and functions as a melee class (similar to the plants' Chomper). Captain Deadbeard the pirate specializes in sniping, much like the plants' Cactus. All three fit in well with the established assortment of silly characters.

Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2 arrives on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Windows in Spring 2016. Check out my full gameplay impressions for lots more info!

Mirror's Edge: Catalyst

The game first announced as Mirror's Edge 2 eventually became a prequel called Mirror's Edge Catalyst. This one tells the origin story of Faith, the dark-haired protagonist from the original game. Catalyst takes place in a dystopian world ruled by corporations – a place where citizens have no individual freedom or privacy. Faith will become a catalyst for change, hence the snappy title.

Like the first Mirror's Edge, Catalyst is a first-person action platforming game. This time, the game takes place in an open world with no levels or loading screens. Faith will run and jump through a dangerous metropolis, taking on missions like races and time trials that capitalize on Mirror's Edge's fast gameplay. She'll also have to deal with environmental puzzles and enemies. Since Faith doesn't like guns, expect to make use of her martial arts prowess instead.

Mirror's Edge: Catalyst arrives on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Windows on February 23, 2016.

Sports

EA Sports has about a million yearly franchises. During the conference, they mostly focused on FIFA 16. This year's version carries a big new feature: female players! EA has also partnered with Pelé, who appeared on stage to briefly discuss his career.

We also saw bits of NHL 16, Rory McIlroy PGA Tour (which has fantasy courses in addition to real life ones), NBA Live 16 (which has a new face scanning app on mobile devices), and Madden NFL 16. All feature new tutorial modes designed to ease new players into each game

Minions on Mobile

For the first time (if memory serves), EA actually talked up its mobile games lineup during the press conference. The publisher announced two new phone and tablet games: collectible card game Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes and Minions Paradise. The former was not playable at the show, but we did get to check out Minions Paradise – a 3D city building game starring the minions from the Despicable Me franchise. We'll post impressions on our sister sites soon.

EA tells me that Minions Paradise could come to Windows Phone or Windows 10 sometime after launching on Android and iOS. Here's hoping!

Star Wars Battlefront

Finally, EA's biggest non-sports game of the year is undoubtedly Star Wars Battlefront. Over two years in the making, Battlefront comes from Stockholm-based developer DICE. Battlefront showcases Dice's Frostbite Engine, with numerous graphical effects bringing the Star Wars universe to life.

The original Star Wars Battlefront games featured large-scale multiplayer battles, and the new game is no different. It sports several multiplayer modes with support for anywhere from 8 to 40 players. Everyone starts out as a foot soldier, but naturally they can hop into vehicles as well. That includes flying vehicles like X-Wings and Tie Fighters and ground-based vehicles such as the AT-AT walkers.

The first Battlefront gameplay reveal showcased the iconic battle on Hoth from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Players divide up into two teams: the heroic Rebels and evil Empire. The Empire wants to destroy the Rebel base, whereas the Rebels must defend it. With foot soldiers, vehicles, and laser blasts everywhere, the battle really demonstrates an impressive sense of scale and chaos.

Star Wars Battlefront features single-player, 2-player split-screen, and online multiplayer modes. It will explode onto Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Windows on November 17. Give Jonathan's impressions a look for the inside scoop on the next great Star Wars game!

Which of these EA games are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments!

EA is holding its Gamescom 2015 conference right now, where the gaming giant is announcing new games, expansion packs and details on upcoming titles. The livestream can be accessed from the link below, so be sure to check it out!

EA Gamescom 2015 livestream

Electronic Arts is making some changes to its plans for the 2016 edition of the Electronic Entertainment Expo. The publisher won't have a booth on the Los Angeles Convention Center exhibit floor during E3 2016, which will be held on June 14-16. Instead, EA will hold a public event called E3 Play that will be held in the nearby Club Nokia venue at LA Live from June 12-14.

This will be the first time in E3 history that EA won't have a exhibit space on the show floor. In past years EA has had one of the biggest booth on the South Floor of the LA Convention Center. EA will still hold a pre-E3 press conference in LA, but it will be held on Sunday, June 12 at Club Nokia, rather than on the company's traditional Monday date. It has also confirmed that it will still have meeting rooms at the convention center during E3 2016, but no booth.

According to what an EA PR rep told VG247:

"Hosting our own event allows us to connect directly with our players and create a meaningful experience for them. In Los Angeles, our players will have access to the games on Monday. We will open up the event to the industry on Tuesday, allowing those who are in town for E3 to see our games and join the experience."

While the new EA Play event in LA will be free, attendees will have to reserve tickets beforehand. A similar event will be held in London on June 12. EA also plans to live stream its press conference and some of its EA Play events.

Sign up to learn more about EA Play

Source: VG247.com

EA recently launched a large publisher sale across Xbox 360, Xbox One and Windows. The sale is ending on Feb 8th for Xbox and Feb 9th for PC, so if you were on the fence about Star Wars Battlefront, or want an excellent deal on the backwards compatible Mirror's Edge ahead of its sequel, Catalyst, then now's your chance.

To access the Windows PC deals, you'll need an EA account and the publisher's Origin client, which you can download here.

Windows PC (via Origin)

Here are some of the highlights from EA's Origin sale on Windows PC. The sale also includes deep discounts on various EA classics from Dead Space, to Dragon Age: Origins and the Mass Effect trilogy. Head over to Origin's deals page to see the full list in your local currency. These deals expire on Feb 9th, 2016 at 10:00 AM PST. (via SegmentNext).

• Star Wars Battlefront - $29.99
• Star Wars Battlefront Deluxe Edition - $34.99
• Star Wars Battlefront Ultimate Edition - $79.98
• FIFA 16 - $23.99
• FIFA 16 Deluxe Edition - $34.99
• The Sims 4 - $23.99
• Dragon Age: Inquisition - $14.99
• Dragon Age: Inquisition - Jaws of Hakkon - $9.99
• Dragon Age: Inquisition - The Descent - $9.99
• Dragon Age: Inquisition - Trespasser - $9.99
• Battlefield 4 - $9.99
• Battlefield 4 Premium Edition - $19.99
• Battlefield Bundle - $17.99
• Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare - $4.99
• Titanfall Deluxe Edition - $9.99
• The Sims 4 Digital Deluxe - $27.99
• The Sims 4 - Get to Work - $29.99
• The Sims 4 - Get Together - $29.99
• SimCity: Complete Edition - $14.99
• Need for Speed™ Rivals - $4.99
• Crysis® Trilogy - $24.99

Xbox One:

Some of EA's biggest Xbox One deals include Star Wars Battlefront, which received a hefty 50% discount. If you're a fan of multiplayer shooters but want something a little more casual (and Star Wars themed), Battlefront is an excellent choice. If you're unsure, check out our full review over here.

• Battlefield 4 Premium - $20.00 (Save 60%) - Xbox One Store
• Battlefield 4 Premium Edition - $24.00 (Save 60%) - Xbox One Store
• Battlefield Hardline Deluxe Edition - $14.85 (Save 67%) - Xbox One Store
• Battlefield Hardline Standard Edition - $13.20 (Save 67%) - Xbox One Store
• Battlefield Hardline Ultimate Edition - $29.70 (Save 67%) - Xbox One Store
• F1 2015 - $24.00 (Save 60%) - Xbox One Store
• FIFA 16 - $24.00 (Save 60%) - Xbox One Store
• FIFA 16 Deluxe Edition - $35.00 (Save 50%) - Xbox One Store
• FIFA 16 Super Deluxe Edition - $64.99 (Save 35%) - Xbox One Store
• Madden NFL 16 Deluxe: Season Edition - $40.00 (Save 50%) - Xbox One Store
• Madden NFL 16 Super Deluxe: Season Edition - $64.99 (Save 35%) - Xbox One Store
• Need For Speed - $19.80 (Save 67%) - Xbox One Store
• Need For Speed Deluxe Edition - $23.10 (Save 67%) - Xbox One Store
• NHL 16 - $19.80 (Save 67%) - Xbox One Store
• Rory Mcilroy Pga Tour - $16.00 (Save 60%) - Xbox One Store
• Star Wars Battlefront - $30.00 (Save 50%) - Xbox One Store
• Star Wars Battlefront Deluxe Edition - $35.00 (Save 50%) - Xbox One Store
• Star Wars Battlefront Ultimate Edition - $80.39 (Save 33%) - Xbox One Store

Xbox 360:

EA known supporters of Xbox One's backwards compatibility, bringing Mirror's Edge, Burnout Paradise and more to the platform already. Some of the following Xbox 360 titles could reasonably hit Xbox One in the future. Skate 3 for example, is already confirmed to be heading to backwards compatibility in the future. As always, you can head over to Xbox's official UserVoice page to vote for future backwards compatible titles.

The Xbox 360 games highlighted with an asterix (*) are currently backwards compatible with Xbox One.

• Army Of Two: The 40th Day - $4.99 (Save 29%) - Xbox 360 Store
• Bejeweled 2* - $2.49 (Save 17%) - Xbox 360 Store
• Bulletstorm - $4.99 (Save 29%) - Xbox 360 Store
• Crysis 2 - $3.99 (Save 33%) - Xbox 360 Store
• Crysis 3 - $3.99 (Save 33%) - Xbox 360 Store
• Dragon Age 2 - $3.99 (Save 33%) - Xbox 360 Store
• Feeding Frenzy* - $2.49 (Save 17%) - Xbox 360 Store
• Feeding Frenzy 2* - $4.99 (Save 17%) - Xbox 360 Store
• FIFA 16 - $23.99 (Save 20%) - Xbox 360 Store
• Heavy Weapon* - $4.99 (Save 17%) - Xbox 360 Store
• Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning - $3.99 (Save 33%) - Xbox 360 Store
• Madden NFL 16 - $19.79 (Save 23%) - Xbox 360 Store
• Ncaa Football 14 - $4.99 (Save 29%) - Xbox 360 Store
• Need For Speed Most Wanted - $3.99 (Save 33%) - Xbox 360 Store
• NFL Blitz - $3.74 (Save 29%) - Xbox 360 Store
• NHL Legacy Edition - $19.79 (Save 23%) - Xbox 360 Store
• Pac-Man And The Ghostly Adventures 2 - $19.99 (Save 50%) - Xbox 360 Store
• Peggle* - $4.99 (Save 17%) - Xbox 360 Store
• Plants Vs. Zombies - $4.94 (Save 23%) - Xbox 360 Store
• Skate 3 - $4.99 (Save 29%) - Xbox 360 Store
• Zuma* - $2.49 (Save 17%) - Xbox 360 Store
• Zuma's Revenge!* - $4.99 (Save 17%) - Xbox 360 Store

EA — Daily Deals with Gold (Feb 6th, 2016 only)

• Dragon Age: Inquisition – Game of the Year Edition - $19.80 (Save 60%) - Xbox One Store
• MIrror's Edge* - $4.94 (Save 67%) - Xbox 360 Store

EA's Xbox deals expire on February 8th, 2016.

Beyond EA, various other major Xbox titles have been discounted this week, including Watch Dogs, Shadow of Mordor and RYSE as part of this week's Deals with Gold. For the full list of this week's Deals with Gold, you can head right over here.

Will you be picking up anything from the EA sale? Let us know in the comments. That Mirror's Edge discount won me over.

Swiss gaming retailer 'Wog.ch' has posted a listing for the next entry to Electronic Arts' flagship shooter franchise, 'Battlefield 5', stating the game will be stepping back in time to the First World War. While the retailer has listed few details regarding the title, the listing claims that Battlefield 5 will release later this year on October 26th. The game will be offering a 'multiplayer tactical shooter' experience set during the World War I. This would be a first in the series, which is yet to venture before the Second World War. Shortly after these details hit major news outlets, the retailer updated the listing to remove this information.

The listing conforms with previous rumours of this year's Battlefield release, which proposed the game will be the fifth entry in the core Battlefield series, set in a military environment. Electronic Arts has confirmed a Battlefield release scheduled for 2016, but hasn't shared any details on the title. It's currently unclear if the retailer mistakenly posted these details ahead of an announcement, or an employee added unconfirmed speculation to the product's description.

If the information in the listing ends up being correct, Battlefield 5 will be releasing this fall on Xbox One, Playstation 4 and PC.

Source: Wog.ch via IGN | Image via Thrillho (Twitter)