14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft Garage, Redmond’s division that allows employees to develop their own projects for the company’s products, made the headlines several times this week thanks to new apps released for Windows Phone and Android devices, and is now coming back with two new games for the company’s own smartphone platform.
Nova Bacon and LostTurtle are both designed by Microsoft Garage and are at this point available exclusively on Windows Phone, coming with a freeware license and available through the Windows Phone Store.
As expected, they’re both in the very early development stage, but they’re still providing a pretty addictive experience, depending on how much you actually enjoy playing on your smartphone.
There’s no doubt that neither Nova Bacon nor LostTurtle provide the best possible gaming experience on a Windows Phone device, but at least they’re proof that with a little time, Microsoft employees can indeed create some pretty exciting projects for the company’s own platforms, be they for desktops or for smartphones.
Nova Bacon
As Microsoft itself says in the description of the game published in the Windows Phone Store, in Nova Bacon you need to collect ingredients for a space restaurant, obviously as fast as possible and while also defending yourself from humans who are trying to ruin your business.
The main purpose of the game is to collect as many pigs as possible, while also earning money to upgrade weapons and thus improve your defense system.
Needless to say, the playing difficulty increases as you complete more levels, so the more you play, the harder it gets. We’ve already played for half an hour and it becomes quite impossible after some time.
LostTurtle
This time, the gameplay is a bit more simple, but you really need skills to handle the flying turtle using the virtual touch controls.
In LostTurtle, all you need to do is help Walter navigate through a series of levels and at the same time collect as many stars as possible. The more stars you get, the better the score, and the purpose of the game is obviously to get all three stars in each level.
What’s more, be sure to dodge obstacles no matter if you fly or swim, as every time you touch the spikes, you lose another life. There are only three lives available, so control your turtle with caution.
Microsoft says that, in the end, Walter could finally meet his friend, but after spending several minutes playing it, LostTurtle proved to be a little bit too difficult for our smartphone gaming skills.
