DripDrop is a remake of the old favorite Tetris, but with a couple of twists that make it interesting and a couple of problems that take a bit away from the fun.
There are three modes of play (Classic, Feed, and Flood) and three levels of difficulty (easy, normal, and hard). Classic mode requires you to put 2, 3, 4, or 5 elements of the same color next to each other to make them all disappear. When you do this, you will send a black element to the other player to slow down her progress. The Feed mode has you putting two complementary pictures next to each other based on who eats what, such as a banana and a monkey or a carton of milk and a cat. When you do this, you will send a copper ball to the opponent to slow down her progress. The Flood mode is very similar to the Feed mode in that you have to match either 2, 3, 4, or 5 sponges and a drop of the same color. Every time you absorb a drop of water your water level will go down and your opponent's water level will go up.
The graphics are excellent and have a bright, crisp, cartoonish look which I've always favored. The background is also well-designed, and you can pick one from about a dozen designs or have one picked at random. The music and sound effects are quite good since they don't try to grab your attention, and the volume can be adjusted or turned off in the options.
There are a few nitpicks I have that put a damper on an otherwise fun game. The pause key isn't in the help file, and I found out only by accident that I could pause the game with the P key. There's no way to change the keys used, and the only way to find out what keys are used is to click on the help button which is only available right when you start DripDrop. While you do get points, there's no top 10 or top 20 list of scores which I think would be a natural addition. Plus, you currently can't play over the Internet, although this is promised in a forthcoming free update.
These nitpicks aside, DripDrop is one of the best variations of Tetris I have seen, and one of the most fun and challenging with enough levels of difficulty to keep you interested for a long time.
Bongo Boogie
The premise of Bongo Boogie is simple. You have to bounce a ball off your paddle and aim it at boxes in order to break them. You then grab the bonuses inside while preventing the ball from falling to the ground. If you can break all the boxes before the time runs out, you will advance to the next level. Some of the bricks can't be broken, while others require multiple hits to break.
The bonuses are in canisters with different symbols that indicate their function. Some of them are rather evident, such as the snowflake symbol on the Freeze bonus (prevents you from moving for a while), but others don't make much sense. Plus, Bongo Boogie uses the same icon for both smaller and small paddle bonuses as for large and larger paddle bonuses. While you generally want to avoid the first and grab the second, it would be beneficial to know which are which, especially if you get a lot of bonuses falling at the same time and want to know which one to grab.
I wish the instructions were better, as it seems you're expected to find out a lot of the particulars through trial and error. For example, on one level, a metal spiked ball came out of a box I destroyed. I avoided it thinking it was dangerous, only to find out later that it's an advanced ball and can break the stronger boxes in one hit and not two. I also would like it if you could use the keyboard to move the paddle instead of the mouse as you do now.
The graphics are very good and detailed, with the explosions when you break a box being my particular favorite animation. The sound effects are minimal, but the music is catchy without being obnoxious. The monkeys are cute, which is a must in any game which has monkeys.
Overall, if you like paddle games Bongo Boogie is a fine version.
Doulber Gold
Doulber Gold puts you in control of Doulber—a creature that looks oddly like a purple ant with white gloves and shoes—who has to collect a certain amount of crystals in each level and find the exit before the time runs out. Along the way, he has to avoid or kill the many bad guys (bats, guards, rats, and moms), natural threats (lava flows and lightning), and falling crystals and rocks. The graphics are very good and the animations are smooth. The six different themes, including a jungle and an ice land, add some needed variety.
Each level has blocks you can walk through and which hold up the crystals and rocks. If you walk through a block which is holding up a crystal or rock, you can cause them all to fall on your head, which will take away a life. If you can lead an enemy to the right spot and drop a crystal or rock on his head, you'll be able to kill him. Some of the blocks you can't walk through can be blown up with a bomb that you can collect in certain levels.
There are also supposed to be secrets which you can find by moving rocks and blowing up walls with bombs, but I haven't found any of them so I don't know what kinds of rewards are possible. There is also a meditate skill which lets you collect diamonds remotely and helps you with puzzles. However it only works in the four cardinal directions one block away and it hasn't helped me with any puzzle so far.
Doulber Gold has a few problems that keep it from being more enjoyable. The biggest one is that, while it remembers which levels you've beaten, it doesn't remember how many lives or items you've picked up, so each time you play you start over with three lives and no items. You can also enter your initials if you have a high score, but there's no way to see a list of them. Overall, the slow pace and the above problems don't leave me thrilled with Doulber Gold.
Marbles Deluxe
In Marbles Deluxe, you have to create a path from the starting gate to the exit gate by putting tiles in a certain order. You move tiles around by dropping one tile on top of another, which will exchange them. Once your marble leaves a tile, it will disappear (the exception being the large rock tile which will disappear after being used twice). Skull tiles will destroy your marble if you land on them, although, if there's a bomb tile you can use it to destroy these skull tiles. Other special tiles include arrows that cause your marble to go in a specific direction, keys which you must land on to open a lock that's blocking your path, teleporting tiles which transport your marble to nearly any spot on the map, and coin tiles that give you extra points. You not only have to find your way to the exit, but, if there are any green gems, you have to collect all of them before you're allowed to use the exit gate and move on to the next level.
You can even make your own levels, although there doesn't seem to be any way to share them with others who also have Marbles Deluxe. Making your own levels is fun, but it's even more fun if you can share your efforts with other people.
Marbles Deluxe is a lot of fun if you like brain teasers, and, since there are no lives to lose or gain and no clock to beat, you can play each level until you've finally figured out how to beat it. If you get stuck, all you need to do is click on the reset button and you can try again. It's pure puzzle goodness.
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DripDrop
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