‘Number Chef’ + Updated Controls = a Much More Enjoyable Game

We’re back today with yet another revision from a developer, because it seems that the month of Thanksgiving is the time when we should all be thankful for games — such as Number Chef — receiving “Quality of Life” style improvements. Although I previously appreciated the tricky number-based puzzle during our review, I did lament that Number Chef’s controls could sometimes seem as though they’d taken on a life all their own. Further exacerbating this dilemma was that Number Chef’s undo move option had to be unlocked via IAPs, leading one to naturally question why such a tricky game of number puzzles had dodgy controls in the first place.

Fear not, for Roope Rainisto — the creator of Number Chef — has responded to those concerns with an update that dramatically improves the playability of his game (without making the undo move option free in the process). Now tiles will not only light up when you grab them — which is an immediate boon — but the move won’t become permanent until after you let go, meaning you can just slide the tile back right if the game goofs up. While Number Chef was already an interesting — yet also meaty — mathematical challenge when I first tackled it, this update has dramatically improved the over-all experience for those using smaller-screened iOS devices (such as the iPod Touch 5).