Did you play Day of the Tentacle [$4.99] and think "I like how this game makes me feel stupid, but would like it better if it was a platformer"" Well, that's Donut Games' Vulture Island [$2.99] in a nutshell. It sends you on the quests of a LucasArts point-and-click adventure game, but with 2D platforming. You will use items in weird ways on other items, trying to solve puzzles that will make you curse yourself and slap your forehead over how obvious the solution seems after the fact. It's all that fun, but as a platforming game, a clever combination that's made for another winner from Donut Games.

Day of the Tentacle is a particular comparison here not just because of the bewildering nature of the game's puzzles, but specifically because of the three-character nature of the game. The story puts you in charge of three different characters stuck in different places after their airship crashes, with the pilot stuck in a tree somewhere. So, starting off with nothing, each character needs to find a weapon and get the items necessary to get off of the island once they regroup and find their pilot. The game has a non-linear nature because each character is independent of one another ? there's no crossover of items. While this takes away some of the complexity of the game, and there are moments where it feels like an item could be of use elsewhere, but no. All the solutions can be had within each character's own set of levels. This means that if you get stuck with...