Review: Box n' Bug - Plus We're Giving Away Five Copies

Overview

Box n' Bug is a casual game where you control a spider, and your goal is to stack packages of food as high as you can. The spider automatically swings back and forth, and you tap to drop a box. It's up to you how to form your stack, but as you reach new heights the boxes will start to tilt, and you need to be careful, and use power-ups.

Features

The game is just endless, and you stack until 10 boxes drop. A real physics engine is included so you need to build a solid base to stack to extreme heights. Two power-ups are available with either explosion to blow up a box, or web which sticks all boxes to it, to help make the stack sturdy. OpenFeint is included with three online high score tables (total boxes, score, and height) as well as 12 achievements.

The Good

Box n' Bug has a similar challenging and fun quality of Topple 1 & 2 and its copy Finger Physics. Rather than dragging the pieces to stack them, you have to use proper timing to drop them in place. Also your stack needs to be well built to sustain the impact of a new box falling in, rather than gently placing. As you progress upwards your stack will usually become a single column, and you need to be precise to make sure it doesn't topple. The included power-ups help a lot to either make a box sticky for solidification, or to remove a box that landed tilted or off to the side. You can tilt to affect the dropped box's direction, but tilting doesn't impact the entire stack. The game is really well designed, and the amount of polish just sticks out. In the game the backgrounds are elegant, as is the spider swinging back and forth. An outstanding soundtrack is included with a mellow upbeat guitar tone in the background. The controls are straight forward with just tap to drop a box, and it's always responsive which is nice because timing is everything. The inclusion of OpenFeint helps a lot by giving you three high score tables to strive for, and attainable achievements.

The Bad

The only concern is that the gameplay never varies. It's always the same thing every time, but that's the usual problem with most iPhone games. The gameplay is addicting though to keep playing over and over to improve upon your box stacking strategy. The game doesn't save your progress which is sadly the case for many casual games.

The Verdict

Box n' Bug is a really well made game that makes the stacking game a casual pick up and play game. It's somewhat unique in that timing is everything to drop the boxes on to the stack. The gameplays mechanic never changes, but it's great and addictive enough for that not to matter as much. It only costs $0.99, and there is a lot to enjoy for that price. Box n' Bug is a should buy. ***We're giving away five copies. To enter just leave a comment on or retweet this review. The contest ends

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