Review: Fling!
November 29, 2009
The Overview
Fling! is a simple concept, but boasts over 10,000 unique puzzles. It has its roots in games like Rush Hour (the orginal Rush Hour was finally released as an iPhone App Nov 24th in the US store). Though, it turns Rush Hour's idea on its head. Rather than moving your pieces around the screen to let one escape, you continually 'fling' the pieces into each other, knocking them off the playing board until only one is left.
The Features
The two most important buttons in the game are the 'Undo' and 'Hint' buttons on the button of the screen. Undo takes back a move you have made - all the way to the beginning of the puzzle. Since there are no penalties for using the Undo button, this encourages you to make a lot of guesses. This does cause you to sometimes just blindly stumble onto the answer which does not always feel satisfying. But not all of us are Chess geniuses who can plot out 14+ moves in advance. :) The Hint button gives you the next correct move to solve the puzzle (assuming you are already on the right track...otherwise it tells you to Undo some moves and try again). However, there IS a penalty for using hints in Free Play mode and only limited hints in the other two modes.
Fling! features three modes of play: Free Play, Arcade and Challenge Mode. Free Play has no time limits and the ability to skip a puzzle and come back to it later. After you solve a certain number of puzzles, you move to the next difficulty level. Using the Hint button will help you solve a puzzle but that puzzle will no longer count toward reaching the next level. Even worse, it adds to the number of puzzles that you have to solve in order move on.
Arcade Mode pits you against the clock. Solve as many puzzles as you can before the clock runs out. The quicker you solve the puzzles, the more points you get. You don't get penalized for using your Hints but you do have to be choosy about using them as you have a limited number for each level.
In Challenge Mode, you once again face the clock. You have a short time to complete enough puzzles to move on to the next level. And once again, you only have a certain number of hints per puzzle.
The Breakdown
The Good The game curves out extremely well. The easy puzzles are extremely easy and teach you the basic ideas of the game quickly. Each level quietly introduces you to a new set of tricks to solve the puzzles. The difficulty progression feels satisfying rather than frustrating. The music is pleasant and non-intrusive. It also automatically shuts off if you play music from your itunes library. The graphics are clean and simple with cute animations for the furballs. Fling! autosaves your progress whenever you close the app or when your switch between the three different modes. The Bad
Though CandyCane claims there are over 10,000 unique puzzles in the game, some of the puzzles feel repetitive when the solution to the current one is just a slight variation of the previous one.
There is a built in leaderboard, but it would be better if it connected to one of the big guys like Open Feint or Plus+.
There is no support for multiple players on the same iPhone. I would leave a puzzle on level 9 only to come back and find a saved puzzle from level 3. While my back was turned, one of my kids had started a new game on me. While I can jumped ahead to level 9, I would not be right back where I was in the game.
