4/14/2020 Sprinkle Islands Game
MALMO, SWEDEN - June 26, 2013 - Mediocre, the independent mobile games studio behind mobile hits Sprinkle and Granny Smith, has today. Sprinkle Islands could be considered a puzzle game as players are presented with various problem solving scenarios as you rush against time to put out the fires on the beautiful Sprinkle Islands.
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As a species, we're drawn to water. It keeps us alive, but that doesn't explain our fascination with its tactile properties. Show us a pool of water and we want to dive in, splash around or at least have a little paddle. More than that, we're captivated by the way water moves. Children are still endlessly amused by the way an empty squeezy bottle can be transformed into an impromptu water pistol, and even the most stoic of adults can't resist a playful squirt with the hosepipe while tending to the shrubbery.It's this aspect of water that drives Sprinkle Islands, an effortlessly charming physics puzzler from the inappropriately modest Mediocre Games. Rolling boulders onto big red buttons may not be the most original puzzle, but the watery twist makes it feel fresh.Depicted in whimsical pastel hues, Sprinkle Islands gives you control of a rickety go-kart style fire engine. You roll through the scenery until a nearby fire forces you to stop.
Put out the fire and you can continue on your way. You do this with your hose, which can be raised and lowered with intuitive swipes on the left side of the screen, while a button on the right starts the water flowing.Initially, your job is simple. Aim at the fire, douse it with water, job done. Complications quickly arise as the path to the flames is blocked, and you must start using the environment to guide your gushes to their target. Before you know it, you're knocking over barriers, sealing and opening passageways by moving blocks, and operating the obligatory seesaws that must, by law, appear in every physics-based puzzle game.There's not much that's fresh in the puzzle design, but the liquid theme subtly changes the way these tropes play out. It certainly helps that the water simulation is second to none: every drip, squirt and full-force blast feels just right, the water sloshing, splashing and soaking things just how you'd expect.
The game's boss fights aren't its best feature, but they're a nice change of pace all the same.Sometimes, however, the physics simulation is almost too good. Water is an inherently chaotic substance, and no two squirts are the same. This causes problems in later stages when you're fighting the clock and your own limited water reserves to move objects around. More than once, you'll find that a solution you dismissed after it failed to work is, in fact, the correct thing to do. All it takes is a slight and imperceptible change in the angle, the force or the timing and what seemed impossible suddenly works perfectly.
Price and Availability.: £1.49.: £1.63. Out nowThat's a testament to how beautifully Sprinkle Islands captures the childlike joy of splashing around, but it does tend to leave the puzzling element feeling progressively soggier as the levels progress. Often it's easy to see what needs to be done, but frustrating to get the water doing what it needs to do in order to move on.That's the only damp patch in an otherwise delightful game, and an optional level-skip feature means that even the most irritating sliding block won't be an impassable dam to progress. It feels so refreshing just to play in Sprinkle Islands' happy, splashy world that you'd almost swear the current heatwave was some kind of viral marketing push.8/10.
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Kids can learn problem-solving skills and critical thinking as they use the physics of water to put out fires. The game builds on knowledge gleaned from previous levels as kids notice what worked and how the water interacted with obstacles so they can strategize the best way to use the limited resource and the surrounding environment to put out the fires quickly. Because water physics is chaotic, though, they'll also learn that sometimes plans need to be altered. Sprinkle Islands is awash with watery puzzles that stretch kids' understanding of water physics. Parents need to know that Sprinkle Islands is a physics-based puzzle game that tasks players to extinguish fires on the Titan moon, which orbits Saturn. The main character is a good role model for attempting to help his neighbors - and though fire might burn down a villager's hut, the characters are never harmed. The game is challenging, though, due to the limited supply of water and the unpredictable physics, and it might prove too difficult for young players.
Players can share high scores via the Game Center social network, but participation is optional. As with its predecessor, the star of SPRINKLE ISLANDS isn't the puzzles and it isn't the amorphous blob that's the hero of the game. It's the water, which acts incredibly like water does in the real world, splashing and pooling and not always going where you want it to go.The focus on real-world water physics makes the game incredibly challenging. Repeating the exact same move twice doesn't always yield the same results, which younger players might not understand (and might get frustrated over).
The tropical music soothes the nerves, though, and keeps players engaged and always willing to try just one more time.
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