Fruit Frenzy, by White Bat Games
$0.99, ***
Pros:
? Fun ?three in a row? game
? New twist on moving pieces around
? Multiple game modes (arcade, puzzle, times)
Cons:
? No multiplayer option
? Not very involved
Fruit Frenzy is a new ?three in a row? style game. In the interest of full disclosure, I was given a promo code to review this app. Fruit Frenzy is a the mold of the ?three if a row? style game, with a few twists thrown in.
In Fruit Frenzy, the goal is to line up three or more fruits horizontally across the middle row. Unlike the ?swapping? variants of the game, you do this in Fruit Frenzy by sliding various columns up and down, or sliding the middle horizontal row right and left. As you move the fruit around, it becomes almost like one of those sliding/shifting puzzles as you try to match up fruit.
The game play is very simple to pick up, although it can take a little bit of time to figure out the strategy. When I first started playing it, I found myself always thinking in terms of ?swapping? pieces, but with Fruit Frenzy you need to approach it from a different perspective entirely. In that arena, the game succeeds strongly in differentiating it from the many other ?three in a row? style games.
There are three modes for playing Fruit Frenzy ? arcade, times, and puzzle. In arcade mode, you simply try and remove pieces as fast as you can, while new pieces fall in (from the top or bottom) to continually add to the fruits. Watch out if a column gets too long ? you have limited space to slide columns up and down, so this can be a big downfall! In puzzle mode, you are presented with a board and a specific goal (such as ?get five in a row?). In timed mode, you have a specific time limit to get as many points as you can.
I do wish there was a multiplayer mode, maybe where you race against a challenger. But the variety of game modes and difficulty levels is still nice. There are five difficulty levels on the game modes. The graphics, while simple, are still fairly clean and crisp, enhancing the game play. As an added bonus, this is a universal binary, although I reviewed the iPhone version of the game.
My biggest complaint with Fruit Frenzy was, well, it got a little boring. The game play was interesting, everything about the game was ?nice?, but after a while I just got tired of playing it. There weren?t any bells and whistles to keep my interest, and the difficulty level did not increase to make the game significantly harder. As such, after about 10 minutes of moving fruit around, I just got tired of it. Adding bonus features, special pieces, or things along those lines my spice the game up a little. Making the puzzle levels harder would also help out ? I generally found the puzzle levels pretty easy to solve. For young kids, this might be an ideal ?3-in-a-row? style game, but for casual gamers it might be a little ?lite?.
All in all, this was a nice little game?but that?s all. It didn?t have anything to keep my long term interest or anything to make me really want to pick it up to play again. The game is well designed and would be very good for younger players, but I suspect most casual gamers will grow bored relatively quickly. At $0.99 the price is far from prohibitive, so if you are a ?3-in-a-row? enthusiast, you might want to give this a try. For others, I think it would be fun, but not for an extended period of time. Three and a half out of five stars.
Rating scale:
* = No redeeming qualities or features, probably not worth it even if it is free
** = Few redeeming qualities, or is simply isn't worth the price
*** = Some good features but also some clear flaws.
**** = A solid app, worth the money if interested, a few flaws or problems or slightly overpriced
***** = Top of the line app, no problems or drawbacks.
Price is factored into the ratings. Ratings are lowered if I feel the price of the app outweighs the benefits/enjoyment/features it provides. Likewise, an app that is a good value for the money will have a higher rating.
$0.99, ***
Pros:
? Fun ?three in a row? game
? New twist on moving pieces around
? Multiple game modes (arcade, puzzle, times)
Cons:
? No multiplayer option
? Not very involved
Fruit Frenzy is a new ?three in a row? style game. In the interest of full disclosure, I was given a promo code to review this app. Fruit Frenzy is a the mold of the ?three if a row? style game, with a few twists thrown in.
In Fruit Frenzy, the goal is to line up three or more fruits horizontally across the middle row. Unlike the ?swapping? variants of the game, you do this in Fruit Frenzy by sliding various columns up and down, or sliding the middle horizontal row right and left. As you move the fruit around, it becomes almost like one of those sliding/shifting puzzles as you try to match up fruit.
The game play is very simple to pick up, although it can take a little bit of time to figure out the strategy. When I first started playing it, I found myself always thinking in terms of ?swapping? pieces, but with Fruit Frenzy you need to approach it from a different perspective entirely. In that arena, the game succeeds strongly in differentiating it from the many other ?three in a row? style games.
There are three modes for playing Fruit Frenzy ? arcade, times, and puzzle. In arcade mode, you simply try and remove pieces as fast as you can, while new pieces fall in (from the top or bottom) to continually add to the fruits. Watch out if a column gets too long ? you have limited space to slide columns up and down, so this can be a big downfall! In puzzle mode, you are presented with a board and a specific goal (such as ?get five in a row?). In timed mode, you have a specific time limit to get as many points as you can.
I do wish there was a multiplayer mode, maybe where you race against a challenger. But the variety of game modes and difficulty levels is still nice. There are five difficulty levels on the game modes. The graphics, while simple, are still fairly clean and crisp, enhancing the game play. As an added bonus, this is a universal binary, although I reviewed the iPhone version of the game.
My biggest complaint with Fruit Frenzy was, well, it got a little boring. The game play was interesting, everything about the game was ?nice?, but after a while I just got tired of playing it. There weren?t any bells and whistles to keep my interest, and the difficulty level did not increase to make the game significantly harder. As such, after about 10 minutes of moving fruit around, I just got tired of it. Adding bonus features, special pieces, or things along those lines my spice the game up a little. Making the puzzle levels harder would also help out ? I generally found the puzzle levels pretty easy to solve. For young kids, this might be an ideal ?3-in-a-row? style game, but for casual gamers it might be a little ?lite?.
All in all, this was a nice little game?but that?s all. It didn?t have anything to keep my long term interest or anything to make me really want to pick it up to play again. The game is well designed and would be very good for younger players, but I suspect most casual gamers will grow bored relatively quickly. At $0.99 the price is far from prohibitive, so if you are a ?3-in-a-row? enthusiast, you might want to give this a try. For others, I think it would be fun, but not for an extended period of time. Three and a half out of five stars.
Rating scale:
* = No redeeming qualities or features, probably not worth it even if it is free
** = Few redeeming qualities, or is simply isn't worth the price
*** = Some good features but also some clear flaws.
**** = A solid app, worth the money if interested, a few flaws or problems or slightly overpriced
***** = Top of the line app, no problems or drawbacks.
Price is factored into the ratings. Ratings are lowered if I feel the price of the app outweighs the benefits/enjoyment/features it provides. Likewise, an app that is a good value for the money will have a higher rating.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram