One of the key differentiators for Windows Phone the past few years has been on the go access to the Xbox service and Xbox enabled games. We’ve had some popular ports like iStunt 2 (Dan's favorite) and Plants vs. Zombies. Windows Phone has also had its fair share of original and exclusive titles, fun games like Chicken Can’t Fly and Mush. Over on the Xbox website, we can see the first set of upcoming titles to be Xbox Live enabled.

The website already lists two games currently in the Marketplace, Angry Birds Space and Angry Birds Star Wars. Here are the rest though:

Asphalt 7: Heat
Take on the world in six different game modes in tracks across the globe, driving the most amazing cars by prestigious makers like Audi, Lamborghini and Aston Martin.

Fairway Solitaire
Unique gameplay combines solitaire with golf to create an experience unlike any other. Play sequential cards to create long runs. Long runs make long drives, and long drives make better scores!

Gravity Guy 2
You are the master of gravity! Reverse the polarity of the world to manipulate your surroundings and reach the end.

Ice Age Village
Scrat's hunt for his favorite acorn has opened a crack in the earth's crust, sending the animals scurrying for safety. Help them in this heroic challenge and get ready for fun and surprises along the way!

Jetpack Joyride
Join Barry Steakfries as he breaks in to a secret laboratory to commandeer the experimental jetpacks from the clutches of science evildoers.

N.O.V.A 3
The Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance receives a desperate plea from Yelena to come to Earth. Once again, the hero must rise to save mankind!

Shark Dash
Shark Dash is a fun and engaging game that takes the physics puzzler to fun new heights with a unique cartoonish style starring funny little bath toys!

It’s always great to see the catalogue of Xbox enabled games grow and these are all welcomed additions. Before all of you running Windows Phone 7.5 get riled up, it's possible some of these may come out for you too. We saw Angry Birds Space come out for Windows Phone 8 first before making it's way to the older handsets. Fairway Solitaire should be fun game in the casual catergory. We actually interviewed the team behind the game a few months back and walked away impressed with what we saw. N.O.V.A.3 is a game I’m most excited about.

Which upcoming game for Windows Phone 8 are you most excited for?

The last two weeks have been full of great news for Xbox Windows Phone gamers. Last week we got the stunning Rayman Jungle Run, yesterday Microsoft announced Halo: Spartan Assault, and today doesn’t disappoint either. No, Gameloft didn’t suddenly release N.O.V.A. 3. But an equally requested title has just popped up…

Halfbrick Studio’s Jetpack Joyride is finally – FINALLY available on Windows Phone 8. It runs on devices with 512 MB of RAM. And it’s free! Are you ready for an endless runner that involves a lot more flying than running? Of course you are.

To infinity and beyond

The game’s protagonist Barry Steakfries has recently started working as a jetpack tester. He soon discovers that his bosses plan to take over the world. He steals the jetpack and begins a desperate escape from the testing laboratory… But this is an endless runner, so don’t expect to actually escape from the lab.

Jetpack Joyride’s controls couldn’t be simpler. Since Barry runs forward automatically, all you need to do is tap the screen to activate his jetpack. The longer you touch the screen, the higher he’ll fly. Sometimes he’ll gain vehicles like a dragon and chicken that mix the controls up a bit and keep things exciting.

Coinage

The ever-present goal is to collect as many coins as possible before you run into one of the lab’s many death traps. Coins can then be spent in the shop to unlock new clothes (including an outfit based on fellow publisher Miniclip’s Fragger!), jetpacks, and various items and upgrades. Utilities are single use items while Gadgets and Vehicle Upgrades offer permanent benefits.

Being a free-to-play game, coins can also be purchased with real money. The IAP prices are actually reasonable, so you know Gameloft didn’t make this one. One purchase you’ll definitely want to make as soon as possible is the Counterfeit Machine. It permanently doubles the amount of coins you pick up during gameplay. Wish Gravity Guy 2 had offered that option!

Mission to Mars

Just like Gravity Guy 2 (which basically copied this game), Jetpack Joyride gives players three optional missions to work on at any given time. These include things you’d do anyway like playing X number of games or collecting Y number of vehicles. Other goals require a change in routine, such as reaching a specific distance without collecting precious coins. I know it hurts, but sometimes you’ve gotta leave money on the table.

Naturally completing missions will unlock several Xbox Achievements. Jetpack Joyride has a total of 20 Achievements, all of which are identical to the Windows 8 version’s. All told, it should be a fairly easy completion.

Strap on and get flying

So far Jetpack Joyride looks every bit as enjoyable and addictive as the Windows 8 version we’ve been enjoying for months. Yes, this version took far too long to pass Xbox Live certification, but it’s here now and that’s what matters. Let’s hope Halfbrick brings us their latest game Fish out of Water much sooner!

Jetpack Joyride– Windows Phone 8 – 36 MB – FREE – Store Link

Thanks to everyone who tipped us. We love you all! Even Mark Tepper.

Halfbrick Studios supported the launch of Windows Phone 7 with the release of Fruit Ninja and the promise of Age of Zombies. But Fruit Ninja never got content updates (unlike on other platforms) and Age of Zombies never showed up, having caught a bad case of the vaporwares. Many feared that the popular Australian game developer had jumped ship from Windows Phone entirely.

Then in October 2012, Halfbrick’s Jetpack Joyride suddenly showed up as an Xbox Windows 8 game. Microsoft teased a Windows Phone 8 version shortly thereafter, but months passed without the game showing up. Miniclip’s clone Gravity Guy 2 actually beat Jetpack Joyride to market in March! Thankfully Jetpack Joyride finally cleared the perils of Xbox certification and landed on Windows Phone8 earlier this month (and for free). Turns out it was worth the wait!

No escape from reality

The game’s protagonist Barry Steakfries has recently started working as a jetpack tester. He soon discovers that his bosses plan to take over the world. He steals the jetpack and begins a desperate escape from the testing laboratory… But this is an endless runner, so don’t expect to actually escape from the lab.

While the game falls into the running genre, you’ll probably spend most of your time in the air. Tapping the screen activates the jetpack and causes Barry to rise up the screen. Let go and he plummets back to the ground. The controls vary slightly when you get in a vehicle, but the game never requires more than a single finger (placed anywhere on-screen) to use. That approachability plays a big part in the game’s popularity.

Harm’s way

Three types of obstacles threaten to end Barry’s run from the lab: zappers, missiles, and lasers. Zappers – a line of electricity spread across two points come in both stationary and rotating varieties. They are by far the most common and deadly threat.

Missiles fly at Barry from the right side of the screen, sometimes alone and other times on after another. An exclamation mark and sound effect at least warns you of their coming. The least common threat, lasers stretch all the way across the screen in various horizontal patterns. Because lasers are so easy to dodge, I usually looked forward to gaining a little distance unharmed during laser strikes.

Vehicles

Barry can gain a random vehicle and a modicum of protection by grabbing the colored gear icons that appear every now and then. If you get hit while in a vehicle, you lose the ride but survive the blow. Vehicles include:

• Bad as Hog: An oddly named motorcycle that can jump but not fly. Barry shoots any passing scientists down with a shotgun (a la Terminator 2).
• Crazy Freaking Teleporter: Possibly the best vehicle in the game, if you can use it right. The teleporter’s aiming reticule constantly moves up and down while the vehicle itself remains at a fixed height. Tap the screen to teleport to the reticule’s position. Because the teleporter can’t be harmed while moving, it can basically survive until the player teleporters into a hazard by mistake.
• Lil’ Stomper: A mech suit that can jump and hover. Also likes to punch scientists.
• Mr. Cuddles: Ride this dragon’s head like Falcor from The Neverending Story! The dragon stays at the top of the screen by default; tapping the screen moves him downward.
• Profit Bird: Rapidly tapping the screen makes the profit bird fly (as opposed to holding your finger against the screen).
• Gravity Suit: Hey, a Gravity Guy crossover! While dressing up as Miniclip’s character is cool, he reverses gravity far too slowly to be effective. You’ll run into a zapper before very long.

Last Spin

Every now and then a spinner token floats by for the grabbing. Whenever Barry finally dies, he can spend all of his tokens on the lucky spinner. Prizes include double coins on your next run; free Head Start, Final Blast, Quick Revive, and other items; and three quantities of coin payouts.

If you’d rather not take your chances, you can always choose to cash in your tokens instead of spending them. Each one is worth 50 coins.

Coin economy

The ever-present goal is to collect as many coins as possible before you run into one of the lab’s many death traps. Coins can then be spent in the Shack (shop) to unlock new clothes (including an outfit based on fellow publisher Miniclip’s Fragger!), jetpacks, and various items and upgrades. Utilities are single use items while Gadgets and Vehicle Upgrades offer permanent benefits.

At any given time, you have three different optional missions to work on. Missions award 1-3 three stars, depending on their difficulty. Get enough stars and you’ll level up, earning a nice coin reward.

Being a free-to-play game, coins can also be purchased with real money. The IAP prices are actually reasonable, so you know Gameloft didn’t make this one. One purchase you’ll definitely want to make as soon as possible is the Counterfeit Machine. It permanently doubles the amount of coins you pick up during gameplay. The purchase supports Halfbrick and cuts grinding time in half; totally worth it.

Gadgets

The Shack sells a whopping 18 different gadgets – equippable items that affect gameplay in various ways. Barry can only equip two gadgets at a time; how I wished for a third slot, even as an IAP!

Not only are there a ton of gadgets, but practically all of them have some charming graphical effect when equipped. Use the Nerd Repellant to keep scientists from appearing and you’ll notice tumbleweeds show up in their stead. Flash, my personal favorite, causes an AI dog to follow you throughout your run. He jumps to collect coins and tokens and he even changes his appearance when you get in a vehicle. Halfbrick lavished an impressive level of detail into this game.

Bugs

Much as I love Jetpack Joyride, it does have a few kinks that could use fixing. On a few separate occasions, the title screen “frame” and music would suddenly pop up while I was playing (as pictured above), preventing me from controlling Barry. Basically the game went into its attract mode at the wrong time. On a separate occasion, my character became invisible for a few seconds and died.

Achievements

Several Achievements involve buying certain items from the Stash and completing various numbers of missions. The two secret Achievements are ‘Blinged Out’ for buying a golden vehicle upgrade and ‘Tee Hee Two’ for collecting exactly 69 coins during a run.

The hardest Achievement by far is ‘Romeo Alpha Delta’ for flying over 5,000 km in a single run. Some players struggle with it, but it basically comes down to a combination of practice, equipping the right gadgets and utilities, and luck. Following the guide at TrueAchievements, you should reach 5,000 km eventually. It only took me five tries!

Overall Impression

It’s a good thing Gravity Guy 2 came out a few months ahead of Jetpack Joyride on Windows Phone. While Miniclip’s endless runner takes ample inspiration from Jetpack Joyride, it doesn’t have nearly as much content or charm.

Jetpack Joyride boasts more backgrounds (randomized), a greater variety of missions, equippable gadgets, vehicles, and the lucky spinner – that’s a lot more game, when you get right down to it. Plus Jetpack Joyride is free as opposed to costing $2.99 AND you can buy a permanent 2x coin multiplier, unlike Gravity Guy 2. In terms of value, Halfbrick’s runner soars over Miniclip’s good but lesser featured clone.

• Jetpack Joyride– Windows Phone 8 – 36 MB – FREE – Store Link
• Jetpack Joyride– Windows 8 – 40 MB – FREE – Store Link

Sometimes when the Xbox Windows Phone title updates rain, they pour. Today is one of those days, as three games from three different publishers just received the update treatment: Ubisoft’s Monster Burner, Halfbrick’s Jetpack Joyride, and Rovio’s Angry Birds Space (Windows Phone 8 version).

Title updates are almost always good news. But in the case of the Monster Burner update, some will consider it a mixed bag. Depending on how far along you are in the game, you might want to avoid it! Find out why after the break.

 Monster Burner version 1.1

At launch, Monster Burner listed a total of four modes for players to unlock. Oddly, only Survival Mode could actually be purchased though. The other modes seemingly appeared on the purchase screen simply to taunt the player.

Well, the update finally makes all three extra modes available for purchase. They cost 25,000 coins apiece. I only had enough scratch in my virtual bank to try “Revenge of the Enchantress.” It plays a lot like Survival Mode – one long, fast moving stage. But it also overflows with princesses, the most dangerous “enemy” in the game. Shoot one by mistake and you’ll lose a unit of health. What’s more, these princesses appear out of nowhere, as if by magic.

Cheat buster

That’s the good news. The bad news is the update also fixes the trick for easily repeating Gold Rush stages. As our “Super-fast coin trick” guide explained, this trick allowed players to repeat Gold Rush stages over and over simply by tapping the Back button after completing the stage. This allowed many players (including yours truly) to bypass the normal 6 hour time restriction on Gold Rush and earn money far faster than otherwise possible.

Post-update, pressing Back at the Gold Rush results screen just takes you back to the main menu. It’s a drag to see the exploit fixed, but also completely understandable. Ubisoft wants to sell players coin packages for Microsoft Points, and they can’t do so much of that if people are cheating!

If you’re inclined to finish Monster Burner’s Achievements in a hurry, I recommend avoiding the update for now. But if you’ve already purchased every upgrade in the game, you might as well grab it so that you can try the new modes. Don’t have the game? Read our review!

Monster Burner– Windows Phone 7 and 8 – 33 MB – 99 cents – Store Link

Jetpack Joyride version 1.1

Near as we can tell, this update consists solely of bug fixes. We’re aware of four bugs that have plagued this game since launch: loss of all coins, all store items temporarily unlocking, the player randomly becoming invisible, and the title screen menu popping up during gameplay (pictured above). Our review goes into more detail on some of these problems.

I would guess the update at least fixes the coin and title screen bugs, but we won’t know for sure until the community plays the updated game more. If you still experience one of the aforementioned issues after updating, let us know in the comments below.

Jetpack Joyride– Windows Phone 8 – 29 MB – FREE – Store Link

Angry Birds Space version 1.5.2.4

I’m not going to lie to you. I haven’t actually played Angry Birds Space, so I can’t say what has changed in this update. If you guys find any changes, speak up and we’ll update the article.

Update: According to reader KillAchievement, this update adds the new Pig Dipper set of levels and and a different song to the game!

Angry Birds Space– Windows Phone 8 – 19 MB – 99 cents – Store Link

Thanks to Josue Mendez for tipping us on Jetpack Joyride and Angry Birds Space!

Here’s a good tip for you if you’re a fan of the endless runner Jetpack Joyride. On the Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 versions, just about everything in the Stash (the game’s store) is free today.

Bug or giveaway? We’re not sure but it’s worth checking out.

Indeed we bought just about everything we could from unlocking levels to new outfits to utilities on our Surface Pro. On Windows Phone we were able to do the same as well, collecting a ton of achievements too. However, after about every second “free purchase” the game would freeze on our Lumia 925 and Lumia 1020, making the process…well, a process, though it seemed to be random too. We didn't experience the same on Windows 8 though, making it much easier.

We checked with Halfbrick’s Twitter account and this doesn’t look to be a temporary sale. In fact, our tipster told us this:

“There was some sort of a crash yesterday, I had lost all credits and Jetpack Joyride was not working. But they are now back and items are free.”

The game does look to still be having stability problems as on an initial load it seems to be crashing the game, at least on three of our phones. After that, it crashes after a few purchases, requiring us to hit the Windows key, jump back into Games and re-launch. It eventually exits the game and we have to repeat the process.

On our Surface Pro, just about everything is free

We’re not sure if Halfbrick is doing this to amend for yesterday’s crash (plausible) or if it’s a glitch. Regardless, you are more than welcome to give it a go.

If you haven’t downloaded Jetpack Joyride yet, you’re really missing out on what is an excellent game.

Jetpack Joyride – Windows Phone 8 – 36 MB – FREE – Store Link

Update: A ton of you are noting in comments that you don't have anything for free, so here at WPCentral, we must have magic phones and tablets as our pictures don't lie! Now pardon us, we're going to go use our Golden Piggy Pack and blast money at scientists. (But seriously, sorry if you can't get this deal. We verified with a few people that this works.)

Update 2: People are having luck by uninstalling and reinstalling the game, then trying the Stash. That makes sense as we fresh installed the game on our three phones. 

Thanks, Sholokov, for the tip!

One of the key differentiators for Windows Phone the past few years has been on the go access to the Xbox service and Xbox enabled games. We’ve had some popular ports like iStunt 2 (Dan's favorite) and Plants vs. Zombies. Windows Phone has also had its fair share of original and exclusive titles, fun games like Chicken Can’t Fly and Mush. Over on the Xbox website, we can see the first set of upcoming titles to be Xbox Live enabled.

The website already lists two games currently in the Marketplace, Angry Birds Space and Angry Birds Star Wars. Here are the rest though:

Asphalt 7: Heat
Take on the world in six different game modes in tracks across the globe, driving the most amazing cars by prestigious makers like Audi, Lamborghini and Aston Martin.

Fairway Solitaire
Unique gameplay combines solitaire with golf to create an experience unlike any other. Play sequential cards to create long runs. Long runs make long drives, and long drives make better scores!

Gravity Guy 2
You are the master of gravity! Reverse the polarity of the world to manipulate your surroundings and reach the end.

Ice Age Village
Scrat's hunt for his favorite acorn has opened a crack in the earth's crust, sending the animals scurrying for safety. Help them in this heroic challenge and get ready for fun and surprises along the way!

Jetpack Joyride
Join Barry Steakfries as he breaks in to a secret laboratory to commandeer the experimental jetpacks from the clutches of science evildoers.

N.O.V.A 3
The Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance receives a desperate plea from Yelena to come to Earth. Once again, the hero must rise to save mankind!

Shark Dash
Shark Dash is a fun and engaging game that takes the physics puzzler to fun new heights with a unique cartoonish style starring funny little bath toys!

It’s always great to see the catalogue of Xbox enabled games grow and these are all welcomed additions. Before all of you running Windows Phone 7.5 get riled up, it's possible some of these may come out for you too. We saw Angry Birds Space come out for Windows Phone 8 first before making it's way to the older handsets. Fairway Solitaire should be fun game in the casual catergory. We actually interviewed the team behind the game a few months back and walked away impressed with what we saw. N.O.V.A.3 is a game I’m most excited about.

Which upcoming game for Windows Phone 8 are you most excited for?

The last two weeks have been full of great news for Xbox Windows Phone gamers. Last week we got the stunning Rayman Jungle Run, yesterday Microsoft announced Halo: Spartan Assault, and today doesn’t disappoint either. No, Gameloft didn’t suddenly release N.O.V.A. 3. But an equally requested title has just popped up…

Halfbrick Studio’s Jetpack Joyride is finally – FINALLY available on Windows Phone 8. It runs on devices with 512 MB of RAM. And it’s free! Are you ready for an endless runner that involves a lot more flying than running? Of course you are.

To infinity and beyond

The game’s protagonist Barry Steakfries has recently started working as a jetpack tester. He soon discovers that his bosses plan to take over the world. He steals the jetpack and begins a desperate escape from the testing laboratory… But this is an endless runner, so don’t expect to actually escape from the lab.

Jetpack Joyride’s controls couldn’t be simpler. Since Barry runs forward automatically, all you need to do is tap the screen to activate his jetpack. The longer you touch the screen, the higher he’ll fly. Sometimes he’ll gain vehicles like a dragon and chicken that mix the controls up a bit and keep things exciting.

Coinage

The ever-present goal is to collect as many coins as possible before you run into one of the lab’s many death traps. Coins can then be spent in the shop to unlock new clothes (including an outfit based on fellow publisher Miniclip’s Fragger!), jetpacks, and various items and upgrades. Utilities are single use items while Gadgets and Vehicle Upgrades offer permanent benefits.

Being a free-to-play game, coins can also be purchased with real money. The IAP prices are actually reasonable, so you know Gameloft didn’t make this one. One purchase you’ll definitely want to make as soon as possible is the Counterfeit Machine. It permanently doubles the amount of coins you pick up during gameplay. Wish Gravity Guy 2 had offered that option!

Mission to Mars

Just like Gravity Guy 2 (which basically copied this game), Jetpack Joyride gives players three optional missions to work on at any given time. These include things you’d do anyway like playing X number of games or collecting Y number of vehicles. Other goals require a change in routine, such as reaching a specific distance without collecting precious coins. I know it hurts, but sometimes you’ve gotta leave money on the table.

Naturally completing missions will unlock several Xbox Achievements. Jetpack Joyride has a total of 20 Achievements, all of which are identical to the Windows 8 version’s. All told, it should be a fairly easy completion.

Strap on and get flying

So far Jetpack Joyride looks every bit as enjoyable and addictive as the Windows 8 version we’ve been enjoying for months. Yes, this version took far too long to pass Xbox Live certification, but it’s here now and that’s what matters. Let’s hope Halfbrick brings us their latest game Fish out of Water much sooner!

Jetpack Joyride– Windows Phone 8 – 36 MB – FREE – Store Link

Thanks to everyone who tipped us. We love you all! Even Mark Tepper.

Halfbrick Studios supported the launch of Windows Phone 7 with the release of Fruit Ninja and the promise of Age of Zombies. But Fruit Ninja never got content updates (unlike on other platforms) and Age of Zombies never showed up, having caught a bad case of the vaporwares. Many feared that the popular Australian game developer had jumped ship from Windows Phone entirely.

Then in October 2012, Halfbrick’s Jetpack Joyride suddenly showed up as an Xbox Windows 8 game. Microsoft teased a Windows Phone 8 version shortly thereafter, but months passed without the game showing up. Miniclip’s clone Gravity Guy 2 actually beat Jetpack Joyride to market in March! Thankfully Jetpack Joyride finally cleared the perils of Xbox certification and landed on Windows Phone8 earlier this month (and for free). Turns out it was worth the wait!

No escape from reality

The game’s protagonist Barry Steakfries has recently started working as a jetpack tester. He soon discovers that his bosses plan to take over the world. He steals the jetpack and begins a desperate escape from the testing laboratory… But this is an endless runner, so don’t expect to actually escape from the lab.

While the game falls into the running genre, you’ll probably spend most of your time in the air. Tapping the screen activates the jetpack and causes Barry to rise up the screen. Let go and he plummets back to the ground. The controls vary slightly when you get in a vehicle, but the game never requires more than a single finger (placed anywhere on-screen) to use. That approachability plays a big part in the game’s popularity.

Harm’s way

Three types of obstacles threaten to end Barry’s run from the lab: zappers, missiles, and lasers. Zappers – a line of electricity spread across two points come in both stationary and rotating varieties. They are by far the most common and deadly threat.

Missiles fly at Barry from the right side of the screen, sometimes alone and other times on after another. An exclamation mark and sound effect at least warns you of their coming. The least common threat, lasers stretch all the way across the screen in various horizontal patterns. Because lasers are so easy to dodge, I usually looked forward to gaining a little distance unharmed during laser strikes.

Vehicles

Barry can gain a random vehicle and a modicum of protection by grabbing the colored gear icons that appear every now and then. If you get hit while in a vehicle, you lose the ride but survive the blow. Vehicles include:

• Bad as Hog: An oddly named motorcycle that can jump but not fly. Barry shoots any passing scientists down with a shotgun (a la Terminator 2).
• Crazy Freaking Teleporter: Possibly the best vehicle in the game, if you can use it right. The teleporter’s aiming reticule constantly moves up and down while the vehicle itself remains at a fixed height. Tap the screen to teleport to the reticule’s position. Because the teleporter can’t be harmed while moving, it can basically survive until the player teleporters into a hazard by mistake.
• Lil’ Stomper: A mech suit that can jump and hover. Also likes to punch scientists.
• Mr. Cuddles: Ride this dragon’s head like Falcor from The Neverending Story! The dragon stays at the top of the screen by default; tapping the screen moves him downward.
• Profit Bird: Rapidly tapping the screen makes the profit bird fly (as opposed to holding your finger against the screen).
• Gravity Suit: Hey, a Gravity Guy crossover! While dressing up as Miniclip’s character is cool, he reverses gravity far too slowly to be effective. You’ll run into a zapper before very long.

Last Spin

Every now and then a spinner token floats by for the grabbing. Whenever Barry finally dies, he can spend all of his tokens on the lucky spinner. Prizes include double coins on your next run; free Head Start, Final Blast, Quick Revive, and other items; and three quantities of coin payouts.

If you’d rather not take your chances, you can always choose to cash in your tokens instead of spending them. Each one is worth 50 coins.

Coin economy

The ever-present goal is to collect as many coins as possible before you run into one of the lab’s many death traps. Coins can then be spent in the Shack (shop) to unlock new clothes (including an outfit based on fellow publisher Miniclip’s Fragger!), jetpacks, and various items and upgrades. Utilities are single use items while Gadgets and Vehicle Upgrades offer permanent benefits.

At any given time, you have three different optional missions to work on. Missions award 1-3 three stars, depending on their difficulty. Get enough stars and you’ll level up, earning a nice coin reward.

Being a free-to-play game, coins can also be purchased with real money. The IAP prices are actually reasonable, so you know Gameloft didn’t make this one. One purchase you’ll definitely want to make as soon as possible is the Counterfeit Machine. It permanently doubles the amount of coins you pick up during gameplay. The purchase supports Halfbrick and cuts grinding time in half; totally worth it.

Gadgets

The Shack sells a whopping 18 different gadgets – equippable items that affect gameplay in various ways. Barry can only equip two gadgets at a time; how I wished for a third slot, even as an IAP!

Not only are there a ton of gadgets, but practically all of them have some charming graphical effect when equipped. Use the Nerd Repellant to keep scientists from appearing and you’ll notice tumbleweeds show up in their stead. Flash, my personal favorite, causes an AI dog to follow you throughout your run. He jumps to collect coins and tokens and he even changes his appearance when you get in a vehicle. Halfbrick lavished an impressive level of detail into this game.

Bugs

Much as I love Jetpack Joyride, it does have a few kinks that could use fixing. On a few separate occasions, the title screen “frame” and music would suddenly pop up while I was playing (as pictured above), preventing me from controlling Barry. Basically the game went into its attract mode at the wrong time. On a separate occasion, my character became invisible for a few seconds and died.

Achievements

Several Achievements involve buying certain items from the Stash and completing various numbers of missions. The two secret Achievements are ‘Blinged Out’ for buying a golden vehicle upgrade and ‘Tee Hee Two’ for collecting exactly 69 coins during a run.

The hardest Achievement by far is ‘Romeo Alpha Delta’ for flying over 5,000 km in a single run. Some players struggle with it, but it basically comes down to a combination of practice, equipping the right gadgets and utilities, and luck. Following the guide at TrueAchievements, you should reach 5,000 km eventually. It only took me five tries!

Overall Impression

It’s a good thing Gravity Guy 2 came out a few months ahead of Jetpack Joyride on Windows Phone. While Miniclip’s endless runner takes ample inspiration from Jetpack Joyride, it doesn’t have nearly as much content or charm.

Jetpack Joyride boasts more backgrounds (randomized), a greater variety of missions, equippable gadgets, vehicles, and the lucky spinner – that’s a lot more game, when you get right down to it. Plus Jetpack Joyride is free as opposed to costing $2.99 AND you can buy a permanent 2x coin multiplier, unlike Gravity Guy 2. In terms of value, Halfbrick’s runner soars over Miniclip’s good but lesser featured clone.

• Jetpack Joyride– Windows Phone 8 – 36 MB – FREE – Store Link
• Jetpack Joyride– Windows 8 – 40 MB – FREE – Store Link

Sometimes when the Xbox Windows Phone title updates rain, they pour. Today is one of those days, as three games from three different publishers just received the update treatment: Ubisoft’s Monster Burner, Halfbrick’s Jetpack Joyride, and Rovio’s Angry Birds Space (Windows Phone 8 version).

Title updates are almost always good news. But in the case of the Monster Burner update, some will consider it a mixed bag. Depending on how far along you are in the game, you might want to avoid it! Find out why after the break.

 Monster Burner version 1.1

At launch, Monster Burner listed a total of four modes for players to unlock. Oddly, only Survival Mode could actually be purchased though. The other modes seemingly appeared on the purchase screen simply to taunt the player.

Well, the update finally makes all three extra modes available for purchase. They cost 25,000 coins apiece. I only had enough scratch in my virtual bank to try “Revenge of the Enchantress.” It plays a lot like Survival Mode – one long, fast moving stage. But it also overflows with princesses, the most dangerous “enemy” in the game. Shoot one by mistake and you’ll lose a unit of health. What’s more, these princesses appear out of nowhere, as if by magic.

Cheat buster

That’s the good news. The bad news is the update also fixes the trick for easily repeating Gold Rush stages. As our “Super-fast coin trick” guide explained, this trick allowed players to repeat Gold Rush stages over and over simply by tapping the Back button after completing the stage. This allowed many players (including yours truly) to bypass the normal 6 hour time restriction on Gold Rush and earn money far faster than otherwise possible.

Post-update, pressing Back at the Gold Rush results screen just takes you back to the main menu. It’s a drag to see the exploit fixed, but also completely understandable. Ubisoft wants to sell players coin packages for Microsoft Points, and they can’t do so much of that if people are cheating!

If you’re inclined to finish Monster Burner’s Achievements in a hurry, I recommend avoiding the update for now. But if you’ve already purchased every upgrade in the game, you might as well grab it so that you can try the new modes. Don’t have the game? Read our review!

Monster Burner– Windows Phone 7 and 8 – 33 MB – 99 cents – Store Link

Jetpack Joyride version 1.1

Near as we can tell, this update consists solely of bug fixes. We’re aware of four bugs that have plagued this game since launch: loss of all coins, all store items temporarily unlocking, the player randomly becoming invisible, and the title screen menu popping up during gameplay (pictured above). Our review goes into more detail on some of these problems.

I would guess the update at least fixes the coin and title screen bugs, but we won’t know for sure until the community plays the updated game more. If you still experience one of the aforementioned issues after updating, let us know in the comments below.

Jetpack Joyride– Windows Phone 8 – 29 MB – FREE – Store Link

Angry Birds Space version 1.5.2.4

I’m not going to lie to you. I haven’t actually played Angry Birds Space, so I can’t say what has changed in this update. If you guys find any changes, speak up and we’ll update the article.

Update: According to reader KillAchievement, this update adds the new Pig Dipper set of levels and and a different song to the game!

Angry Birds Space– Windows Phone 8 – 19 MB – 99 cents – Store Link

Thanks to Josue Mendez for tipping us on Jetpack Joyride and Angry Birds Space!

Here’s a good tip for you if you’re a fan of the endless runner Jetpack Joyride. On the Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 versions, just about everything in the Stash (the game’s store) is free today.

Bug or giveaway? We’re not sure but it’s worth checking out.

Indeed we bought just about everything we could from unlocking levels to new outfits to utilities on our Surface Pro. On Windows Phone we were able to do the same as well, collecting a ton of achievements too. However, after about every second “free purchase” the game would freeze on our Lumia 925 and Lumia 1020, making the process…well, a process, though it seemed to be random too. We didn't experience the same on Windows 8 though, making it much easier.

We checked with Halfbrick’s Twitter account and this doesn’t look to be a temporary sale. In fact, our tipster told us this:

“There was some sort of a crash yesterday, I had lost all credits and Jetpack Joyride was not working. But they are now back and items are free.”

The game does look to still be having stability problems as on an initial load it seems to be crashing the game, at least on three of our phones. After that, it crashes after a few purchases, requiring us to hit the Windows key, jump back into Games and re-launch. It eventually exits the game and we have to repeat the process.

On our Surface Pro, just about everything is free

We’re not sure if Halfbrick is doing this to amend for yesterday’s crash (plausible) or if it’s a glitch. Regardless, you are more than welcome to give it a go.

If you haven’t downloaded Jetpack Joyride yet, you’re really missing out on what is an excellent game.

Jetpack Joyride – Windows Phone 8 – 36 MB – FREE – Store Link

Update: A ton of you are noting in comments that you don't have anything for free, so here at WPCentral, we must have magic phones and tablets as our pictures don't lie! Now pardon us, we're going to go use our Golden Piggy Pack and blast money at scientists. (But seriously, sorry if you can't get this deal. We verified with a few people that this works.)

Update 2: People are having luck by uninstalling and reinstalling the game, then trying the Stash. That makes sense as we fresh installed the game on our three phones. 

Thanks, Sholokov, for the tip!

One of the key differentiators for Windows Phone the past few years has been on the go access to the Xbox service and Xbox enabled games. We’ve had some popular ports like iStunt 2 (Dan's favorite) and Plants vs. Zombies. Windows Phone has also had its fair share of original and exclusive titles, fun games like Chicken Can’t Fly and Mush. Over on the Xbox website, we can see the first set of upcoming titles to be Xbox Live enabled.

The website already lists two games currently in the Marketplace, Angry Birds Space and Angry Birds Star Wars. Here are the rest though:

Asphalt 7: Heat
Take on the world in six different game modes in tracks across the globe, driving the most amazing cars by prestigious makers like Audi, Lamborghini and Aston Martin.

Fairway Solitaire
Unique gameplay combines solitaire with golf to create an experience unlike any other. Play sequential cards to create long runs. Long runs make long drives, and long drives make better scores!

Gravity Guy 2
You are the master of gravity! Reverse the polarity of the world to manipulate your surroundings and reach the end.

Ice Age Village
Scrat's hunt for his favorite acorn has opened a crack in the earth's crust, sending the animals scurrying for safety. Help them in this heroic challenge and get ready for fun and surprises along the way!

Jetpack Joyride
Join Barry Steakfries as he breaks in to a secret laboratory to commandeer the experimental jetpacks from the clutches of science evildoers.

N.O.V.A 3
The Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance receives a desperate plea from Yelena to come to Earth. Once again, the hero must rise to save mankind!

Shark Dash
Shark Dash is a fun and engaging game that takes the physics puzzler to fun new heights with a unique cartoonish style starring funny little bath toys!

It’s always great to see the catalogue of Xbox enabled games grow and these are all welcomed additions. Before all of you running Windows Phone 7.5 get riled up, it's possible some of these may come out for you too. We saw Angry Birds Space come out for Windows Phone 8 first before making it's way to the older handsets. Fairway Solitaire should be fun game in the casual catergory. We actually interviewed the team behind the game a few months back and walked away impressed with what we saw. N.O.V.A.3 is a game I’m most excited about.

Which upcoming game for Windows Phone 8 are you most excited for?

The last two weeks have been full of great news for Xbox Windows Phone gamers. Last week we got the stunning Rayman Jungle Run, yesterday Microsoft announced Halo: Spartan Assault, and today doesn’t disappoint either. No, Gameloft didn’t suddenly release N.O.V.A. 3. But an equally requested title has just popped up…

Halfbrick Studio’s Jetpack Joyride is finally – FINALLY available on Windows Phone 8. It runs on devices with 512 MB of RAM. And it’s free! Are you ready for an endless runner that involves a lot more flying than running? Of course you are.

To infinity and beyond

The game’s protagonist Barry Steakfries has recently started working as a jetpack tester. He soon discovers that his bosses plan to take over the world. He steals the jetpack and begins a desperate escape from the testing laboratory… But this is an endless runner, so don’t expect to actually escape from the lab.

Jetpack Joyride’s controls couldn’t be simpler. Since Barry runs forward automatically, all you need to do is tap the screen to activate his jetpack. The longer you touch the screen, the higher he’ll fly. Sometimes he’ll gain vehicles like a dragon and chicken that mix the controls up a bit and keep things exciting.

Coinage

The ever-present goal is to collect as many coins as possible before you run into one of the lab’s many death traps. Coins can then be spent in the shop to unlock new clothes (including an outfit based on fellow publisher Miniclip’s Fragger!), jetpacks, and various items and upgrades. Utilities are single use items while Gadgets and Vehicle Upgrades offer permanent benefits.

Being a free-to-play game, coins can also be purchased with real money. The IAP prices are actually reasonable, so you know Gameloft didn’t make this one. One purchase you’ll definitely want to make as soon as possible is the Counterfeit Machine. It permanently doubles the amount of coins you pick up during gameplay. Wish Gravity Guy 2 had offered that option!

Mission to Mars

Just like Gravity Guy 2 (which basically copied this game), Jetpack Joyride gives players three optional missions to work on at any given time. These include things you’d do anyway like playing X number of games or collecting Y number of vehicles. Other goals require a change in routine, such as reaching a specific distance without collecting precious coins. I know it hurts, but sometimes you’ve gotta leave money on the table.

Naturally completing missions will unlock several Xbox Achievements. Jetpack Joyride has a total of 20 Achievements, all of which are identical to the Windows 8 version’s. All told, it should be a fairly easy completion.

Strap on and get flying

So far Jetpack Joyride looks every bit as enjoyable and addictive as the Windows 8 version we’ve been enjoying for months. Yes, this version took far too long to pass Xbox Live certification, but it’s here now and that’s what matters. Let’s hope Halfbrick brings us their latest game Fish out of Water much sooner!

Jetpack Joyride– Windows Phone 8 – 36 MB – FREE – Store Link

Thanks to everyone who tipped us. We love you all! Even Mark Tepper.

Halfbrick Studios supported the launch of Windows Phone 7 with the release of Fruit Ninja and the promise of Age of Zombies. But Fruit Ninja never got content updates (unlike on other platforms) and Age of Zombies never showed up, having caught a bad case of the vaporwares. Many feared that the popular Australian game developer had jumped ship from Windows Phone entirely.

Then in October 2012, Halfbrick’s Jetpack Joyride suddenly showed up as an Xbox Windows 8 game. Microsoft teased a Windows Phone 8 version shortly thereafter, but months passed without the game showing up. Miniclip’s clone Gravity Guy 2 actually beat Jetpack Joyride to market in March! Thankfully Jetpack Joyride finally cleared the perils of Xbox certification and landed on Windows Phone8 earlier this month (and for free). Turns out it was worth the wait!

No escape from reality

The game’s protagonist Barry Steakfries has recently started working as a jetpack tester. He soon discovers that his bosses plan to take over the world. He steals the jetpack and begins a desperate escape from the testing laboratory… But this is an endless runner, so don’t expect to actually escape from the lab.

While the game falls into the running genre, you’ll probably spend most of your time in the air. Tapping the screen activates the jetpack and causes Barry to rise up the screen. Let go and he plummets back to the ground. The controls vary slightly when you get in a vehicle, but the game never requires more than a single finger (placed anywhere on-screen) to use. That approachability plays a big part in the game’s popularity.

Harm’s way

Three types of obstacles threaten to end Barry’s run from the lab: zappers, missiles, and lasers. Zappers – a line of electricity spread across two points come in both stationary and rotating varieties. They are by far the most common and deadly threat.

Missiles fly at Barry from the right side of the screen, sometimes alone and other times on after another. An exclamation mark and sound effect at least warns you of their coming. The least common threat, lasers stretch all the way across the screen in various horizontal patterns. Because lasers are so easy to dodge, I usually looked forward to gaining a little distance unharmed during laser strikes.

Vehicles

Barry can gain a random vehicle and a modicum of protection by grabbing the colored gear icons that appear every now and then. If you get hit while in a vehicle, you lose the ride but survive the blow. Vehicles include:

• Bad as Hog: An oddly named motorcycle that can jump but not fly. Barry shoots any passing scientists down with a shotgun (a la Terminator 2).
• Crazy Freaking Teleporter: Possibly the best vehicle in the game, if you can use it right. The teleporter’s aiming reticule constantly moves up and down while the vehicle itself remains at a fixed height. Tap the screen to teleport to the reticule’s position. Because the teleporter can’t be harmed while moving, it can basically survive until the player teleporters into a hazard by mistake.
• Lil’ Stomper: A mech suit that can jump and hover. Also likes to punch scientists.
• Mr. Cuddles: Ride this dragon’s head like Falcor from The Neverending Story! The dragon stays at the top of the screen by default; tapping the screen moves him downward.
• Profit Bird: Rapidly tapping the screen makes the profit bird fly (as opposed to holding your finger against the screen).
• Gravity Suit: Hey, a Gravity Guy crossover! While dressing up as Miniclip’s character is cool, he reverses gravity far too slowly to be effective. You’ll run into a zapper before very long.

Last Spin

Every now and then a spinner token floats by for the grabbing. Whenever Barry finally dies, he can spend all of his tokens on the lucky spinner. Prizes include double coins on your next run; free Head Start, Final Blast, Quick Revive, and other items; and three quantities of coin payouts.

If you’d rather not take your chances, you can always choose to cash in your tokens instead of spending them. Each one is worth 50 coins.

Coin economy

The ever-present goal is to collect as many coins as possible before you run into one of the lab’s many death traps. Coins can then be spent in the Shack (shop) to unlock new clothes (including an outfit based on fellow publisher Miniclip’s Fragger!), jetpacks, and various items and upgrades. Utilities are single use items while Gadgets and Vehicle Upgrades offer permanent benefits.

At any given time, you have three different optional missions to work on. Missions award 1-3 three stars, depending on their difficulty. Get enough stars and you’ll level up, earning a nice coin reward.

Being a free-to-play game, coins can also be purchased with real money. The IAP prices are actually reasonable, so you know Gameloft didn’t make this one. One purchase you’ll definitely want to make as soon as possible is the Counterfeit Machine. It permanently doubles the amount of coins you pick up during gameplay. The purchase supports Halfbrick and cuts grinding time in half; totally worth it.

Gadgets

The Shack sells a whopping 18 different gadgets – equippable items that affect gameplay in various ways. Barry can only equip two gadgets at a time; how I wished for a third slot, even as an IAP!

Not only are there a ton of gadgets, but practically all of them have some charming graphical effect when equipped. Use the Nerd Repellant to keep scientists from appearing and you’ll notice tumbleweeds show up in their stead. Flash, my personal favorite, causes an AI dog to follow you throughout your run. He jumps to collect coins and tokens and he even changes his appearance when you get in a vehicle. Halfbrick lavished an impressive level of detail into this game.

Bugs

Much as I love Jetpack Joyride, it does have a few kinks that could use fixing. On a few separate occasions, the title screen “frame” and music would suddenly pop up while I was playing (as pictured above), preventing me from controlling Barry. Basically the game went into its attract mode at the wrong time. On a separate occasion, my character became invisible for a few seconds and died.

Achievements

Several Achievements involve buying certain items from the Stash and completing various numbers of missions. The two secret Achievements are ‘Blinged Out’ for buying a golden vehicle upgrade and ‘Tee Hee Two’ for collecting exactly 69 coins during a run.

The hardest Achievement by far is ‘Romeo Alpha Delta’ for flying over 5,000 km in a single run. Some players struggle with it, but it basically comes down to a combination of practice, equipping the right gadgets and utilities, and luck. Following the guide at TrueAchievements, you should reach 5,000 km eventually. It only took me five tries!

Overall Impression

It’s a good thing Gravity Guy 2 came out a few months ahead of Jetpack Joyride on Windows Phone. While Miniclip’s endless runner takes ample inspiration from Jetpack Joyride, it doesn’t have nearly as much content or charm.

Jetpack Joyride boasts more backgrounds (randomized), a greater variety of missions, equippable gadgets, vehicles, and the lucky spinner – that’s a lot more game, when you get right down to it. Plus Jetpack Joyride is free as opposed to costing $2.99 AND you can buy a permanent 2x coin multiplier, unlike Gravity Guy 2. In terms of value, Halfbrick’s runner soars over Miniclip’s good but lesser featured clone.

• Jetpack Joyride– Windows Phone 8 – 36 MB – FREE – Store Link
• Jetpack Joyride– Windows 8 – 40 MB – FREE – Store Link

Sometimes when the Xbox Windows Phone title updates rain, they pour. Today is one of those days, as three games from three different publishers just received the update treatment: Ubisoft’s Monster Burner, Halfbrick’s Jetpack Joyride, and Rovio’s Angry Birds Space (Windows Phone 8 version).

Title updates are almost always good news. But in the case of the Monster Burner update, some will consider it a mixed bag. Depending on how far along you are in the game, you might want to avoid it! Find out why after the break.

 Monster Burner version 1.1

At launch, Monster Burner listed a total of four modes for players to unlock. Oddly, only Survival Mode could actually be purchased though. The other modes seemingly appeared on the purchase screen simply to taunt the player.

Well, the update finally makes all three extra modes available for purchase. They cost 25,000 coins apiece. I only had enough scratch in my virtual bank to try “Revenge of the Enchantress.” It plays a lot like Survival Mode – one long, fast moving stage. But it also overflows with princesses, the most dangerous “enemy” in the game. Shoot one by mistake and you’ll lose a unit of health. What’s more, these princesses appear out of nowhere, as if by magic.

Cheat buster

That’s the good news. The bad news is the update also fixes the trick for easily repeating Gold Rush stages. As our “Super-fast coin trick” guide explained, this trick allowed players to repeat Gold Rush stages over and over simply by tapping the Back button after completing the stage. This allowed many players (including yours truly) to bypass the normal 6 hour time restriction on Gold Rush and earn money far faster than otherwise possible.

Post-update, pressing Back at the Gold Rush results screen just takes you back to the main menu. It’s a drag to see the exploit fixed, but also completely understandable. Ubisoft wants to sell players coin packages for Microsoft Points, and they can’t do so much of that if people are cheating!

If you’re inclined to finish Monster Burner’s Achievements in a hurry, I recommend avoiding the update for now. But if you’ve already purchased every upgrade in the game, you might as well grab it so that you can try the new modes. Don’t have the game? Read our review!

Monster Burner– Windows Phone 7 and 8 – 33 MB – 99 cents – Store Link

Jetpack Joyride version 1.1

Near as we can tell, this update consists solely of bug fixes. We’re aware of four bugs that have plagued this game since launch: loss of all coins, all store items temporarily unlocking, the player randomly becoming invisible, and the title screen menu popping up during gameplay (pictured above). Our review goes into more detail on some of these problems.

I would guess the update at least fixes the coin and title screen bugs, but we won’t know for sure until the community plays the updated game more. If you still experience one of the aforementioned issues after updating, let us know in the comments below.

Jetpack Joyride– Windows Phone 8 – 29 MB – FREE – Store Link

Angry Birds Space version 1.5.2.4

I’m not going to lie to you. I haven’t actually played Angry Birds Space, so I can’t say what has changed in this update. If you guys find any changes, speak up and we’ll update the article.

Update: According to reader KillAchievement, this update adds the new Pig Dipper set of levels and and a different song to the game!

Angry Birds Space– Windows Phone 8 – 19 MB – 99 cents – Store Link

Thanks to Josue Mendez for tipping us on Jetpack Joyride and Angry Birds Space!

Here’s a good tip for you if you’re a fan of the endless runner Jetpack Joyride. On the Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 versions, just about everything in the Stash (the game’s store) is free today.

Bug or giveaway? We’re not sure but it’s worth checking out.

Indeed we bought just about everything we could from unlocking levels to new outfits to utilities on our Surface Pro. On Windows Phone we were able to do the same as well, collecting a ton of achievements too. However, after about every second “free purchase” the game would freeze on our Lumia 925 and Lumia 1020, making the process…well, a process, though it seemed to be random too. We didn't experience the same on Windows 8 though, making it much easier.

We checked with Halfbrick’s Twitter account and this doesn’t look to be a temporary sale. In fact, our tipster told us this:

“There was some sort of a crash yesterday, I had lost all credits and Jetpack Joyride was not working. But they are now back and items are free.”

The game does look to still be having stability problems as on an initial load it seems to be crashing the game, at least on three of our phones. After that, it crashes after a few purchases, requiring us to hit the Windows key, jump back into Games and re-launch. It eventually exits the game and we have to repeat the process.

On our Surface Pro, just about everything is free

We’re not sure if Halfbrick is doing this to amend for yesterday’s crash (plausible) or if it’s a glitch. Regardless, you are more than welcome to give it a go.

If you haven’t downloaded Jetpack Joyride yet, you’re really missing out on what is an excellent game.

Jetpack Joyride – Windows Phone 8 – 36 MB – FREE – Store Link

Update: A ton of you are noting in comments that you don't have anything for free, so here at WPCentral, we must have magic phones and tablets as our pictures don't lie! Now pardon us, we're going to go use our Golden Piggy Pack and blast money at scientists. (But seriously, sorry if you can't get this deal. We verified with a few people that this works.)

Update 2: People are having luck by uninstalling and reinstalling the game, then trying the Stash. That makes sense as we fresh installed the game on our three phones. 

Thanks, Sholokov, for the tip!