Tiki Towers - Review

When you lot think of puzzle games, falling-cake games like Tetris and match-iii games such as Bejeweled probably spring to mind. But there is another type of conundrum that differs greatly from those games. I speak, of course, of the physics-based puzzle game. These games challenge players to identify items throughout a level, using their interaction with the level and the game's physics to reach a goal. Tiki Towers from Game House falls into this cognitive 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 make it from their box to the goal in order to consummate a level. The monkeys have their own AI and will walk and leap brusque distances. Just each level contains peaks, pits, and other hazards that the simians can't surmount on their own. That'south where the actor comes in.

Grab a assistant and swing by the suspension for our total review.

Bamboozling

To assistance the monkeys go across gaps and obstacles, gamers must build the titular towers out of bamboo sticks. These sticks must be fastened to something – either a piece of metal or each other, and then yous can't just start building in thin air. Touching a spot almost a buildable point volition attach two sticks to it, creating a triangle. By holding your finger downwardly and moving it slightly, you can adjust the angle of the sticks before placing them. That's all there is to building towers – tap and place or tap, hold, and identify until the construction looks like it will do the job. One caveat – each stick can only support so much weight before it breaks, and then players need to try to balance their designs out accordingly.

Pick up the sticks

There are 2 different ways to delete sticks. Borer a stick directly removes information technology. Occasionally, the game won't realize you're trying to get rid of a stick and instead places a new one well-nigh the one you were trying to pull. When this happens, or if a lot of sticks need to exist taken away, eraser mode does the flim-flam. A button in the tiptop-correct corner of the screen toggles between eraser and edifice mode. Once activated, players can elevate across the screen and delete multiple sticks simultaneously without fear of placing new ones.

The proof is in the pudding

Similar iBlast Moki, in that location are ii distinct phases to Tiki Towers' game play: the planning phase and the activeness phase. After you've congenital the tower(s), it's time to press the action button and see if everything goes according to plan. The monkeys spring to life and brand their manner to the goal. If they can't pass an obstacle or get killed, it'south back to the drawing board. I found it adequately easy to iterate my solutions, building a structure to become past i obstacle, testing it, and then working on the next structure until I had solved the level.

Bananaramajama

Information technology'south i thing to attain a level'south exit, but another thing to principal it. Every level contains 5 bananas – ane for each monkey. In lodge to perfect a level, all monkeys must achieve the exit with a banana in-paw. The monkeys do their part, heading for any banana inside accomplish earlier trying for the goal. But players volition 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 a chance

Each of Tiki Towers' vi islands contains ix levels, for a full of 54 levels. Gamers only have access to ane island at the start, but completing three levels in an island unlocks the side by side island. That way if you're stumped on one isle, there's commonly another set of levels to try. Completing the outset 5 islands unlocks Eco Challenges and the 6th "island," The Diving Dutchman.

Eco Challenges (also chosen Cousteau Challenges in the Diving Dutchman levels) add a new objective to every level. Players e'er have a limited number of sticks to solve a level, yous run into. But due to greenhouse gases and rampant Republicanism, bamboo supplies are running lower than ever! Hence the need to go back through every level, completing them all with fewer sticks than before – while even so collecting every banana. Actually, if a level was already completed under 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 fourth dimension until the player runs into a really tough level, at which betoken the fun comes screeching to a halt. There are ofttimes and so many possible things to attempt that you can't but guess your style to the solution. It happened to me in both iBlast Moki and Enigmo, despite my seemingly astonishing intellectual powers. Certain, I could always hop on YouTube and look for the reply, but that shouldn't be necessary.

Thankfully Tiki Towers doesn't fall prey to that outcome. Because there is merely one tool to work with (sticks) instead of multiple gadgets, this game'south difficulty is much lower than its brethren. Information technology withal requires plenty of thought and retries, as fifty-fifty solid-looking towers can come crashing downwardly unexpectedly when covered in primates. And yet I managed to consummate every single level without outside assistance. Of course it'southward notwithstanding possible someone could get stuck, only Tiki Towers' overall reasonable difficulty is much appreciated.

Achievements

The Achievements in Tiki Towers are pretty much what you lot'd wait from a game of this type. Most of them revolve effectually finishing every level, collecting every banana, and completing every Eco Challenge. That means they tend to come about the stop of the game instead of spacing out their distribution. But there are some optional challenges like killing 100 monkeys, erasing 1,000 sticks, and killing all five monkeys at once. All in all, the total 200 GamerScore shouldn't be besides hard to reach.

Overall Impression

Tiki Towers is just an uncommonly well-fabricated game. Its bright, colorful graphics, intuitive controls, and silly theme brand it highly outgoing. The tower-building game play is easy to grasp and allows for multiple solutions to each puzzle - with a minimum of frustration. With then many levels (and Eco Challenges on superlative of those), the game is an excellent value. I never stopped having fun until every terminal objective was done. Hopefully Game House brings the Tiki Towers 2: Monkey Democracy, recently released on iPhone, to Xbox Live sooner rather than later.

Tiki Towers costs simply $ii.99 and there is a free trial. Scoop it up here on the Marketplace.

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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/tiki-towers-review

Posted by: morrisonwastoponcen.blogspot.com

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