One-hundred and four in a series. Welcome to this week's overview of the best apps and games released for Windows 8.x in the last seven days.
Microsoft may have cleaned up the store recently but there is still work to be done. If you check the newest apps in the Music & Video category for example you will notice eight paid YouTube applications of which all have been created by the same author and don't seem to be different at all.
As always, if I missed an app or game that has been released this week that you believe is particularly good, let me know in the comments below or notify me via email instead.
Here is this week's selection of apps and games.
Red Stripe Deals
This week's selection of apps and games that have been discounted by at least 50 percent.
- Fishdom3: Special Edition, a match-3 puzzle game for $2.49
- Doodle Devil, a puzzle game for $0.99
- Sunny Hillride, a racing game for $0.99
- Left in the Dark: No One on Board (Full), a puzzle-focused adventure game for $3.49
- SuperPhoto, an app to apply effects to images for $1.99
- Infinity Runner HD, a great looking running game for $4.99
Best app of the week
Chronology: Time Changes Everything
Chronology: Time Changes Everything is a beautiful puzzle platform game in which you use time travel to fix the present.
The player takes control of two different characters, an elderly inventor and his snail sidekick. The old man has the ability to travel in time while the snail can stop it instead.
The levels are challenging but fun to play nevertheless, and you will encounter jumping puzzles as well as logic puzzles while playing it.
The game has been published for free but includes the first three chapters of the game only. The second part of the game is available as an in-app purchase with more chapters on the way.
Other apps
The application brings TNT shows to Windows 8 and 10. It features shows such as Legends, Franklin & Bash, and Castle as well as movies.
It needs to be noted that you need to authenticate through your television provider to access the streams.
Apart from TV and movie streams, it is offering a schedule and information about each show.
Collaborate is a free application that enables you to send text and image cards to a canvas that is shared with other users.
Sessions are joined by scanning a QR code or by entering a session ID, and it is possible to use the operating system's share functionality to share contents directly from other applications.
Aggregator ($1.99, free trial available)
Aggregator is a lightweight RSS feed reader. It uses a three-column layout to display feeds, articles and contents on the screen.
Articles are marked as read automatically when they are selected and individual feeds or OPML files can be imported as well. The app lacks features such as search or filters.
Create enough points in each round of this word puzzle game to qualify for the next.
The game displays 25 random letters in five rows and it is up to you to create words in those rows to raise your score enough to qualify for the next round.
Letters are arranged using drag and drop, and it is often necessary to move letters between rows to create words.
The Microsoft application displays weekly music deals that are discounted by at least 80 percent.
Deals and the remaining time are displayed in the interface on start. A tap on an offer or a category such as "must have pop" or "trick or beats" displays album and artist names as well as the price that it is available for.
The app is tied to the Music (Xbox Music) app on the device and will open it whenever you select to make a purchase.
Empire under Fire is a 3D tower defense game in which you try to prevent hordes of onrushing enemies from reaching a designated target location on the map.
You place four different kinds of towers on the map to defeat wave after wave. The barracks tower spawns defenders for example that block enemies from advancing while the mighty mage tower attacks from afar using magic.
Towers can be upgraded and powers are at your disposal as well which you can use to fire magic at foes or place additional soldiers on the battlefield to slow down the enemy advance.
Another Microsoft Garage project. The app can tag photos in the pictures library and OneDrive Camera roll automatically and offers search capabilities to find people across the photo collection.
It uses Facebook to learn about new faces but offers to create unique identities for friends who are not on Facebook so that they can be identified as well by the app.
It won't modify existing tags but can use them in the identification process. The tagging accuracy improves over time as the app learns while you interact with it.
The app displays information about local State ballots and Federal candidates.
Select a state using a menu at the top and all congressional candidates and ballot measures are displayed afterwards.
A click on a candidate displays a wealth of information from education, political experience and family status to personal finance information, and options to research the candidate in detail.
Cook a variety of dishes in this cooking simulator. To do so you need to cook the right dishes at the right time and add the correct toppings to them before you serve them to customers.
Each level of the game has an earnings goal that you need to meet or surpass to proceed to the next level in line.
You spend the earned money on new equipment that increases your payout or improves other things that help you throughout the game.