Last week’s inaugural post featured games including some of the most iconic characters around, starring the likes of Iron Man and Optimus Prime. This week features some unlikely heroes you’ve never heard of, but after learning about what they can do, you may just learn to love them. Here’s a preview of a couple more mobile games worth checking out.
Spirit Catcher
To say I fully grasped the story of Spirit Catcher would be to look you straight in the eyes and tell a lie. From what I can tell, the protagonist, whom I’ll refer to as “the spirit catcher” because she doesn’t have a real name, is tasked with defending the realm of Azlanthia from monsters. She does so by using her scythe to release traps to destroy the creatures scattered throughout the screen. (A hero who uses a scythe to slay creatures? Hmm…) This physics-based puzzle game is a clever mash up of titles you’ve seen before, using the environment to create a chain reaction of events to destroy as many creatures in the most effective way as possible.
Where Spirit Catcher differentiates itself from the pack is in the aftermath of destroying monsters. The truth is, killing them is only half the battle; the real test is dragging their spirits to the “catcher”, which looks suspiciously like a black hole. Further adding to the challenge is an energy gauge filled with a limited capacity so that you can only direct each spirit so far until they will float off on their own in the direction you last flung them. It’s not as simple as leading them to the catcher, however. To maximize points and earn those coveted three stars, you’ll have to send the spirits off on detours to collect totems and point multipliers, which in turn grant the spirit catcher access to new abilities which can be upgraded. Spirit Catcher is available in both the App Store and Google Play store for $1.99. It offers more than 90 levels of play and promises more to come for free. There is currently no demo version on either marketplace to try for free. A full review will be posted next week.
Sprinkle
A physics-based puzzle game by nature, Sprinkle is a sensory overload of adorable sights and sounds. The objective is sweet and simple: Put out the fires. This is done by manually operating a water cannon-mounted crane, which can be adjusted to suit the needs of the stage. Players will have to adjust height and angles constantly in an attempt to fight off the raging fires that spring up throughout the intricate levels. It takes some quick thinking to save the villagers, as resource management is crucial if you want to earn three starts and keep all of the people and homes scattered throughout each stage scorch-free.
As you progress through the stages, the difficulty progresses right alongside you. Adding in tougher challenges like fighting off fires while flame-inducing meteors reign down from the sky and land in the most unfortunate and vulnerable of places keeps the game feeling fresh each time you pick it up. The additional element of traps and obstacles that must be manipulated through the use of clever water physics adds yet another layer of depth and strategy to the experience, which consists of more than 70 levels. Sprinkle is available in the App Store for $4.99 and through the Google Play store for $1.99 with a free, lite version available as well. Stay tuned for a full review later next week.
That’s all for this week, but be sure to check back next week for full reviews of the games previewed here today, as well as another roundup of some casual games to keep on your radar coming on the next edition of Casual Friday. I’ll be mixing old games and new games alike, so long as I don’t feel that they’re already too popular. My aim is to find the less publicized games that deserve more attention, ranging from free-to-play to higher premium tiers. Of course, there will be the occasional exception of too-good-to-pass-up titles. You never know what’ll show up in the spotlight here, and that’s exactly the point.
Have any of you already played the titles mentioned today? How was your experience with these games? Would you recommend them to fellow readers? Share your thoughts in the comments section.
