App reviews: Hitman GO, Gears Logic Puzzles

Hitman GO

Hitman GO is a mobile interpretation of the popular assassin video game series Hitman. Like its source material, it requires players to use wit and skill to take out their targets without getting caught. Unlike the original game, players don't inhabit the body of the assassin protagonist - instead, they move pieces around on a board-game-like map. It literally gives you a different perspective on the situation. When you successfully take out a target, it moves to the side of the board. Players can also pick up tools from their environment, such as rocks, to aid in distracting their enemies and accomplishing their goals.

The puzzles are engaging and can require quite a bit of thought. The app itself is not terribly violent, but parents should know it's based on a more violent game and does simulate killing people - even if you "kill" them by essentially knocking over their game piece. Overall, though, the game provides a nice puzzling challenge and repurposes this franchise to stellar effect.

Free, for iOS and Android.

Gears Logic Puzzles

In the mood for a mechanical puzzle? Gears Logic Puzzles is a simple but challenging app that presents you with a set of gears - some of them fixed, some of them loose. What the player has to do is arrange the loose pieces in a way that gets all the gears spinning in the correct direction. Players can get some extra gears if they just can't figure out how to make things work, although there are no such options in the game's more difficult mode. (You can unlock a difficult version of the level by watching an ad.)

This is not a flashy app, and not particularly well explained in some parts. Intuition has to guide you in learning how to play, as well as get you through the puzzles. It is ad-supported, but The advertisements are not as intrusive as is common on other apps, and users can often skip through them after watching the first several seconds. The game also includes some features that are in beta, or testing, mode. These don't always work perfectly, but they do give you access to levels that other players have created and let you create your own levels once you've progressed far enough through the game.

Free, for Android.