Splode (iPhone) Review

Costas Stephanides’s Review

A delightful bubble bursting game

Don't worry, I'm not going to wax lyrical about a bubble wrap popping app - Splode is way above that. The background to the game is a little strange (when isn't it?) and your aim is to turn night into day by bursting enough bubbles (splodes). The catch is that you only touch the screen once and the aim is to set off a chain reaction to complete the level.

The bubbles roam free across the screen in a multitude of directions and no amount of tilting will change their random courses. Touching the screen creates a burst ripple and any bubbles that are hit will continue to move (hopefully towards other bubbles) and start to inflate and eventually burst, causing more ripples and ideally a chain reaction or two.

The graphics are pretty decent with some atmospheric gloominess complimented by the brightness of dawn as you near completion. The sound is the real winner here, a clever little tune starts after your touch and the music is matched to each burst.

Moving quickly onto the controls; there's not a great deal to say here as it only requires a single touch to play the game. In the later levels, it helps to be quite precise to try to maximise the chain reaction and fat finger sufferers may struggle - that's my excuse anyway.

There are two game modes; Challenge and Score Attack. Challenge mode gives you a single touch where you have to burst about half of the splodes to proceed. The early levels are ridiculously easy with some very splodes. I'm not sure if there is an end to the game, I'm currently on level 60 and there seems no end to it.

For a true challenge, and for the chance of posting your score online, try Score Attack. It's the same gameplay but with slightly different rules. You start with five attempts to pass a target score; basically, touch, pop a few, the screen will refill with bubbles, touch again, pop a few more and so on. If you manage to pop over 75% of the splodes in a single go, you earn another attempt. Later levels are tough and you need to earn two or three extra attempts to have any chance of completing. Judging by the high scores, some people have managed it with ease.

Overall, Splode is a delightful game that has a charm reminiscent of Spider: Bruce Manor and is a pleasurable way to kill a bit of time.