iPhone Review
Porting addictive mobile games to the iPhone is perfectly fine by me, if they are addictive little gems that had my thumbs entertained for weeks. So when Thumbstar Games announced that they were shifting their Match-3 puzzler, Shifters over to the iPhone and iPod Touch I instantly knew many hours were going to be lost.
Shifters is yet another colour matching block puzzle game to get your thumbs into, but that's not necessarily a bad thing if it offers the same challenging and fun game play that some of the others do. I'm sure these Shifters and their smiley faces will have something to say about the competition, and you'd likely be too charmed by their smile to consider doubting them.
The play takes place on an 8x8 grid, with each little square filled with a funny faced colourful shifter. You control a 2x2 grid which can be turned clockwise and anti-clockwise, moving the colourful faces into a different position. The aim is to match up the colours (and faces) in lines of 3 or more to take them off the grid. It takes a little while to get used to the touch screen controls, as at first the 2x2 cursor never seems to go where you want it to, but when you do get the hang of it, you'll find it difficult to resist the charm of little cutesy squares that pull funny faces and smile at you, little do they know that you're doing your utmost best to line them up for a farewell explosion!
Not every level revolves around the same line matching objective though, as there are four game modes you'll encounter throughout the levels. The most common objective is matching the colours for points, as mentioned, 3 is the minimum, but if you match a line of 4 a bomb will drop into the grid (like Hexic). This will allow you to blow-up a large chunk of blocks at once and score bigger points. Match a line of 5 faces and dynamite will drop down, which cause even more destruction (it's OK to feel sorry for the poor innocent shifters).
Colour Mode requires you to target specific colours in order to complete the level. This gets your brain working a bit more. Even more so in Combo Mode, which asks you to make a certain amount of 4 or 5 line combos. This is a challenge, as every move you make has to be thought out carefully. If you rotate the small grid in the wrong direction or in the wrong position, a potential 5 line could end up being a 3 instead, which of course isn't the aim of the objective and won't count.
It's not all about matching colours and scoring points though. Logic mode adds a bit more variety to the game. You'll be shown an image and then you'll have to recreate it in a certain amount of moves. The first one you encounter is the frowning face, which has to be transformed into a smiley face within 15 shifts. These levels certainly do require logic and I can imagine many people will find these the highlight of the game.
The game eases you in with simple objectives, which is perfect for those who have never ventured into colour matching gaming. Fear not though because it's not long before a time limit is added and every level becomes more of a challenge. When this happens you'll be relying on the bombs and dynamite to help you through it. It increases the challenge, but It certainly doesn't lose any of the fun.
Shifters is Bejeweled meets Hexic meets cutesy and crazy fun. Can you resist all of those cheery cute faces staring at you, albeit right before their demise? I don't care what anyone says, the yellow squares looks like one-eyed Spongebob Squarepants, but less annoying and far more entertaining. Shifters is well worth the download and all the time you'll likely spend playing it.
You can buy Shifters from iTunes here.
Positives:- Cutesy fun.
- Fun game modes.
- A fine difficulty balance.
- Controls can be fiddly
