Got some time to kill, let Topple test your stacking and balance skills.
Topple is a game that I at first was kind of unsure of. I figured it would last a minute or two and I would be over it. I was definitely wrong as this application is one of the best purchases you can make from the iTunes store. At a measly .99 cents you can easily get a half hour of fun per game.
So what is Topple exactly? Think of it as a tower such as Jenga but the pieces looking more like those from Tetris. Now your goal, if you choose to accept it, is to arrange these pieces so that you can stack them passed the goal line. The thing is that they are all balance sensitive, so if a block is edging toward one side it may start to lean. When they fall you lose, obviously. You also have the task of balancing your hand a bit because you can lean the iPhone to lean blocks back and forth.
There are a decent amount of levels that all increase in difficulty. The first few you can breeze by but as you get higher the goal line gets higher. It doesn’t help that you are also challenged by a time limit. This gives the game some sense of urgency. You can’t just take your sweet time building this large wide tower. You have to get those pieces together and balanced rather quickly.
What’s nice about Topple that differs from Tetris is the fact that you pull down the pieces, they do not just randomly start falling and piling up. You put your finger on the piece and pull it down to the pile. You can even grab pieces that have already been placed on the pile and arrange them. This is where you have to be careful though as the blocks may toppled under each other.
The touch response of the iPhone works phenomenally with Topple. You use one finger to pull the block down and you can use another finger to spin and rotate it. Every thing moves very fluently with no skips or jumps whatsoever.
There are three modes to choose from in Topple: training, free play and levels. Training gives you all of the information on how to play the game. In short, it’s a tutorial plain and simple. Levels let’s you choose whichever level you have already beaten and play again, you unlock the higher levels by beating the one before it. Free play is a fun little mode because you can get a little creative. You have no time limit and no goal line. You can simply create a massive tower or any other creation that comes to your head.
Every time you play, your top score and height will be recorded. You can then challenge a friend to try and beat your high score via e-mail. You are also given a ranking, I’m currently stuck on semi-pro.
On top of all these features there is an achievements section. There are time challenges, bonus heights and score bonuses. All of this gives this game length and depth. Again it’s only .99 cents so there’s really no reason to pass this one up.
Topple is one of those sleeper iPhone applications that was kind of looked over but is slowly gaining steam. With it’s cheap price you are getting more then your bang for you buck.
Topple is created by NGMoco , Inc and can be downloaded in the iTunes application store. Check out the latest available apps on the iPhone App Reviews page.
Screenshots
