Of all the offsite meetings we engaged in during GDC, the most pleasant place to visit was probably Electronic Arts’ suite at the St. Regis Hotel. Within that cozy location, Android Central’s Simon Sage and I met with Dan Tausney, PR Manager of Chillingo. As you might remember from our article about their most recent Windows Phone releases, Chillingo is the arm of EA responsible for publishing indie games from all over the world. They’ve been a major Windows Phone supporter and will soon be doing the same for Windows 8 as well.
Check out our hands-on footage with Contre Jour for Windows 8, see your favorite mobile Games Editor in action on video, and learn about Chillingo’s future Windows 8 plans after the break!
Contre Jour
As folks who’ve played the Xbox Windows Phone version know, Contre Jour is a physics puzzle game that boasts a stark and Limbo-esque art style. Contre Jour has always been a beautiful game, and it looks better than ever on Windows 8. On top of the pretty colors, a haunting soundtrack from David Ari Leon (which we couldn’t hear at GDC but remains identical to the phone game’s) makes the game even more beautiful.
The object of the game is to direct the Tentacles-looking protagonist Petit to the safety of each level’s exit. The catch is players don’t control the creature directly. To help the little guy avoid a little death, you’ll tap to drag and reshape the landscape, rolling him around. Use pulleys and other environmental gadgets (slingshots, tentacles, portals, blows, and more) to move Petit past a variety of environmental puzzles.
Being a physics puzzle game of sorts, beating the levels isn’t the only goal. Nope, each stage also has three lights for Petit to collect. Whether or not you want to grab them all for the Achievements, you’ll still need to acquire certain numbers in order to unlock more levels.
WIndows Phone gamers can get Contre Jour right now for $2.99. Store Link
More tablet games on the way
Contre Jour will be Chillingo’s first Xbox-enabled Windows 8 game, but it certainly won’t be the last.
Feed Me Oil for Windows Phone
Their follow-up release Feed Me Oil will again be familiar to Windows Phone gamers. Feed Me Oil is another physics puzzle game in which players help get rid of streams of oil by feeding the black liquid to giant creatures (to whom oil is presumably not poisonous). You do this by placing a variety of gadgets on the screen in order to direct the oil’s flow. Like Contre Jour, Feed Me Oil has a fetching art style that should really come to life on larger screens.
Windows Phone gamers can grab Feed Me Oil right now for 99 cents. Store link
The final Windows 8 game Chillingo announced at GDC hasn’t landed on Windows Phone yet: Be Together. Like its two brethren, Be Together is another physics puzzler. Hey, the genre goes with touch screens like ice cream and apple pie. In each level of this title, you’ll need to help a couple of round creatures meet each other. The gameplay is sort of like Amazing Alex, iBlast Moki, and ilomilo all mixed together. Did I mention it’s super cute as well?
Chillingo hasn’t confirmed whether Be Together will be coming to Windows Phone yet, but given the steady stream of titles the publisher continues to give us, it's only a matter of time. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to make an apple pie a la mode...
