Tiki Towers - Review - Hyde Sith1974

Tiki Towers lead

When yous recollect of puzzle games, falling-cake games like Tetris and lucifer-three games such as Bejeweled probably spring to mind. But in that location is another type of puzzler that differs greatly from those games. I speak, of course, of the physics-based puzzle game. These games challenge players to place items throughout a level, using their interaction with the level and the game's physics to attain a goal. Tiki Towers from Game House falls into this cerebral sub-genre.

The premise of Tiki Towers involves an airplane dropping numerous boxes of monkeys onto several different islands. All five of a box's monkeys must get in from their box to the goal in order to complete a level. The monkeys have their own AI and will walk and bound short distances. But each level contains peaks, pits, and other hazards that the simians can't surmount on their own. That's where the player comes in.

Grab a banana and swing past the break for our full review.

Bamboozling

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To assistance the monkeys get beyond gaps and obstacles, gamers must build the titular towers out of bamboo sticks. These sticks must exist attached to something – either a piece of metal or each other, so you tin't just starting time edifice in sparse air. Touching a spot most a buildable point will attach two sticks to information technology, creating a triangle. By belongings your finger down and moving it slightly, you tin adjust the angle of the sticks before placing them. That'due south all there is to building towers – tap and identify or tap, concur, and place until the construction looks similar it will do the job. One caveat – each stick tin can only support so much weight earlier it breaks, then players demand to try to balance their designs out accordingly.

Pick up the sticks

There are two different ways to delete sticks. Tapping a stick directly removes information technology. Occasionally, the game won't realize you're trying to become rid of a stick and instead places a new one near the one y'all were trying to pull. When this happens, or if a lot of sticks need to be taken away, eraser mode does the trick. A button in the top-right corner of the screen toggles between eraser and building mode. One time activated, players can elevate across the screen and delete multiple sticks simultaneously without fear of placing new ones.

The proof is in the pudding

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Like iBlast Moki, there are two distinct phases to Tiki Towers' game play: the planning phase and the action phase. Afterward you've congenital the tower(s), it's time to printing the action push and run into if everything goes according to programme. The monkeys spring to life and brand their way to the goal. If they can't pass an obstacle or get killed, it's back to the drawing board. I establish it fairly piece of cake to iterate my solutions, building a structure to go past one obstacle, testing it, and then working on the adjacent structure until I had solved the level.

Bananaramajama

It's 1 thing to reach a level's exit, but another thing to chief it. Every level contains five bananas – one for each monkey. In club to perfect a level, all monkeys must reach the exit with a banana in-hand. The monkeys do their part, heading for any banana inside attain before trying for the goal. But players will often need to build tower parts specifically to help the monkeys out. This adds a layer of depth (and challenge) to the game's many levels.

Islands of take chances

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Each of Tiki Towers' six islands contains nine levels, for a total of 54 levels. Gamers merely have admission to one island at the get-go, only completing three levels in an island unlocks the next isle. That way if you're stumped on 1 island, there's commonly another set of levels to endeavour. Completing the first five islands unlocks Eco Challenges and the sixth "isle," The Diving Dutchman.

Eco Challenges (also called Cousteau Challenges in the Diving Dutchman levels) add a new objective to every level. Players e'er accept a express number of sticks to solve a level, you lot encounter. But due to greenhouse gases and rampant Republicanism, bamboo supplies are running lower than ever! Hence the need to go dorsum through every level, completing them all with fewer sticks than before – while nonetheless collecting every banana. Actually, if a level was already completed nether par, it doesn't demand to be redone. Eco Challenges require increasingly creative solutions and really extend the playtime of an already well-stocked game.

Monkey mettle

Games in the physics genre tend to offer a stimulating good time until the player runs into a really tough level, at which point the fun comes screeching to a halt. There are ofttimes and then many possible things to try that you tin can't just approximate your way to the solution. It happened to me in both iBlast Moki and Enigmo, despite my seemingly amazing intellectual powers. Sure, I could e'er hop on YouTube and expect for the answer, but that shouldn't exist necessary.

Thankfully Tiki Towers doesn't autumn casualty to that upshot. Because at that place is simply one tool to work with (sticks) instead of multiple gadgets, this game'southward difficulty is much lower than its brethren. Information technology even so requires plenty of thought and retries, as even solid-looking towers can come crashing downward unexpectedly when covered in primates. And yet I managed to complete every single level without outside assistance. Of course information technology'southward notwithstanding possible someone could become stuck, but Tiki Towers' overall reasonable difficulty is much appreciated.

Achievements

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The Achievements in Tiki Towers are pretty much what you'd expect from a game of this type. Virtually of them revolve effectually finishing every level, collecting every banana, and completing every Eco Challenge. That means they tend to come nigh the end of the game instead of spacing out their distribution. But there are some optional challenges like killing 100 monkeys, erasing one,000 sticks, and killing all five monkeys at in one case. All in all, the full 200 GamerScore shouldn't be too difficult to reach.

Overall Impression

Tiki Towers is but an exceptionally well-made game. Its bright, colorful graphics, intuitive controls, and lightheaded theme make it highly approachable. The tower-building game play is easy to grasp and allows for multiple solutions to each puzzle - with a minimum of frustration. With so many levels (and Eco Challenges on summit of those), the game is an excellent value. I never stopped having fun until every final objective was done. Hopefully Game Firm brings the Tiki Towers two: Monkey Republic, recently released on iPhone, to Xbox Live sooner rather than afterward.

Tiki Towers costs only $ii.99 and there is a gratuitous trial. Scoop it up here on the Market.

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