Today we’ll be taking a look at Hydro Tilt, a relatively new puzzle game for the iPhone/iTouch. Your goal on each and every level is the same: deliver a small cube to a drop-off point. That sounds simple enough, but your abilities are limited since you start off as a mere droplet of water. As you run through each stage you’ll be given the ability to bypass obstacles by changing states — and all of this is done by tilting and turning the device like a wet game of labyrinth. Actually, it’s probably a bit more like Super Monkey Ball…sans super and monkey.
Gameplay
There are around 25 levels and I’ve only managed to complete around 19 of them. The game has a very old school philosophy: falls kill and you start from the beginning of the level. Your progress through each level is timed so you can see how well you do and there’s replayability in trying to beat your old times. Although each level only takes around two minutes to complete, finding out the solutions to each can take a lot longer (this is a puzzle game after all!).
The controls are very tight for a tilt-based control system, and I really appreciate the ability to re-calibrate the angle of the tilt in the options menu. All you have to do is tilt the device in a direction to have your drop of water move that way, and leaning the device more in one direction will also cause you to pick up speed. As tight as the controls are, however, I still found myself plunging off the edge on numerous occasions when all I meant to do was just move a little bit. The puzzles are intricate without being frustrating– and some can be downright magical in the way they re-arrange the levels — but I can see how the precision and reflexes required could be grating to some people. Some levels require you to stop your droplet on a dime and I’ve died a lot of times at the end of a level just because I didn’t tilt the iPhone exactly the way I needed to or because I was just speeding along too quickly on a railing.
The game will show you a live overview of the level with a simple double-tap of the screen. You’re a droplet of water, so you’ll drop through things like grates and be too light to topple over thin walls. Thankfully there are hot and cold stations that you can use (infinitely) to change between liquid, solid, and gaseous states. Gas will float over grates and ice is dense enough to knock over the light walls — there are more applications of this state mechanic, but I’ve listed just the basic ones. Some of the later levels of the game are really sights to behold: one level actually re-forms the landscape tile by tile to form a new path right in front of you. You can actually roll across the new path as it re-forms itself in front of you. Very cool!
There ‘s also a crystal on each of the 25 levels that you can collect for a bonus prize I won ‘t tell you what the prize is, though (unlockable levels!).
Graphics/Sound
The game has a very cartoon-y feel to it and I think the designers had fun with the graphical design. Each of the states of your droplet of water look fantastic, and I especially liked the look of the ice. You can almost feel the cold on your fingertips. There ‘s almost no graphical slowdown, despite the large scale of some levels.
Another thing that helps is of course the sound, and everything about the environmental sounds will keep you immersed in this little water world. The level selection menu has the sound of boiling water and each of the droplet’s states makes a distinct movement sound. The switches, converters (for changing states), and conveyer belts all have a click or a thrumming sound to bring each level to life.
Conclusion
It ‘s great to see another 3D action puzzler in HydroTilt with such a tight control scheme, although I really wouldn ‘t mind if they took it a bit easier on the narrow ledges aspect of their level design (that ‘s probably just my inability to tilt worth a darn, though). The game is a good one to take on the go, as even the hard levels can be beat in under four minutes once you understand the route you have to take. Just make sure to play on stable ground “ you ‘re really going to need it for those tight tilting turns!
You can pick up Hydro Tilt on the App Store for $2.99 while it ‘s on sale (normally $4.99). There ‘s also a lite version if you wanna try that out first!
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