A good time-based brain teaser takes considerable skill and mental coordination to solve, and with Woozzle you’ll be shifting colored orbs around a series of mazes to complete the colored wheels and earn your right to a perfect 3-ball’d perfect score (the equivalent of earning three stars in Angry Birds). Woozzle spits out a series of colored orbs which fall into open slots on wheels that can be spun and aligned with maze-like ramps where you can swipe the orbs onwards to the appropriate destination. Becoming increasingly complicated as you progress, you’ll soon have to manage several paths that change direction thanks to levers, while managing incoming orbs and competing to solve the puzzles as quickly as possible. The puzzles aren’t terribly difficult to solve (you can take as long as you need to get through the sometimes grueling levels), but the faster you complete the objective, the higher score you’ll obtain. Excellent management skills are a must: you’ll have to control multiple wheels at once to prevent orbs from bouncing back and to compete for the best times.

Gameplay itself takes a while to get used to, if only because the controls are initially confusing. In the first few plays, I found myself failing to launch orbs or spin the wheels, but taps and swipes will send everything on its way. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of the menu icons Mugeaters chose to represent settings, achievements, leaderboards, etc. They’re un-intuitive and confusing to touch (the scratched wood effect also makes the icons particularly hard to read and differentiate). I’m also not particularly a huge fan of the background noise, which consists of jungle birds and other noises, overlaid with acoustic music during gameplay. It’s a little much, and while ambient, doesn’t do a lot to add to the gameplay.

Gameplay itself does a get a little repetitive after the initial ten or so levels, and I can’t see much replay value after you complete the game. However, in brief spurts Woozzle offers up some pretty frenetic challenges, and while you can take each puzzle at your own pace it’s best enjoyed by completing the levels as quickly as possible. A little overwhelming at times, and frenetic in others, Woozzle provides a series of challenges that can only be overcome with good planning and a certain, necessary degree of dexterity. For only a $.99 in the App Store for the iPhone version reviewed (the lite version is free for a quick taste), a buck gets you a puzzler that’s bound to challenge your cranium.