I’ve always had a soft spot for physics-based games, especially ones which push the boundaries of what can be done on mobile devices. If like me, you’re tired of shooting birds at pigs, then look at Sprinkle, by Mediocre, which provides impressively realistic water physics and well-designed puzzles, in a slick digestible package. The premise is simple, control the water cannon to put out fires and save the burning villages – along the way, there are some well-design puzzles, including moveable / spinnable blocks, boulders and ice barriers.
The water is rightly the highlight of this game, and it’s strangely soothing to watch the water flow around the screen. It behaves realistically, pooling, splashing and dispersing as you’d expect, but at times the ground is far too slippery, appearing Teflon coated. However, unlikely other physics-based titles such as Angry Birds (or alternatively Space Physics, Apparatus, Blow Up), there are often time constraints on the tasks, since fire spreads, water drains into the grounds, boulders and objects fall off the screen. This often adds a sense of urgency to particular levels, especially if you’re attempting to obtain the maximum bonus from the least water usage possible.
There are 40 levels in total, paced fairly well (not hair-pullingly difficult, but no pushover either), with limitations based on water usage in previous levels. The 40 levels should take you at least 6 hours, much more if you are aiming for maximum efficiency points. At times the controls can be a bit fiddly (especially when there’s rectangular blocks on screen which require multi-touch), though I’m very much looking forward to any future expansion packs. Definitely worth a look.
Sprinkle is available ($1.90) for Tegra 2 powered Android devices, or iOS.
Some of the demo / launch videos are embedded below.
If you enjoyed this article, follow me on Google+ here.
