Edge of the World

Sometimes gravity can be cruel. I need four points from my last throw to win the game, so I aim carefully, sliding my pirate ship along the base line to get the perfect angle of attack. I imagine the mood in the galley is one of trepidation.

Dragging a finger back towards the edge of the screen, I wait for the swinging circles to align and then release. The ship pings forward, nudging a failed shot from my opponent as it slides along the blue waters.

I'm in with a chance, I know that much. The boat slips into the three-point area, slowing down. Now into the four, its masts juddering as it inches towards the titular edge of the world. It's going to settle, it's going to stay. It's fallen off.

Edge of the World is a pirate-themed game of shuffleboard. You're sliding ships along a stretch of sea, marked towards the end with point-scoring zones.

Go too far and you'll plummet off the titular edge and score nothing. Imagine curling, but without the brooms and with more peril.

Your opponent is trying to score on the same board, and is perfectly capable of nudging your point-scoring ships into oblivion. It adds an edge to proceedings, as you know all of your hard work can be undone by a sneaky ricochet.

Both of you have power-ups at your disposal as well. Some of these anchor your ships, meaning they can't be budged, while others fire cannons, blow ships a little farther, or let you replay an entire turn that's gone wrong.

Different captains have different passive skills, and you unlock them using the coins you earn from playing online.

The single-player mode is a decent primer, but Edge of the World is best enjoyed with real people. There's both asynchronous online and pass-and-play multiplayer modes, and the feeling you get when you push a friend's boat into oblivion is pretty special.

There's not a great deal of content to Edge of the World, and it does lose its sheen after a couple of hours' play, but it's a decent little arcade game so long as you've got a few people to play it against.