Rescue Cute Critters From Doom In Monster Soup
Monster Soup ($0.99) by Kieffer Bros. is an engaging new color-matching game for your iPhone and iPad.
I've been a fan of the Kieffer Bros. development studio, as they have released a small collection of simple yet beautiful games like Orba, Abca, and Aqueduct. So I was very happy to see that they have released a new one today, Monster Soup.
Welcome to the peaceful Soup System, home to cute little monsters that like to play and eat soup all day. But someone out there doesn't like these little critters happiness and soup! Plubert, from Pluto, is a moon-sized menace that is threatening to freeze all of the Soup System! It is your job to save them from the inevitable Ice Age that awaits them.
So how do you save these cute critters from doom? You have to match same-colored monsters in order to rescue them from the icy wrath of Plubert. However, you can only connect them in straight lines, so if there is another monster of a different color in the way, you cannot connect the monsters.
The minimum requirement is two, but if you create longer chains, you'll get more points and special power-ups to make the job a little easier.
There is only one game mode, so you have to go through levels. Like all other games, Monster Soup starts off pretty slow but you'll notice that it will increasingly pick up in difficulty.
In order to pass each level, you must rescue enough of the monsters to fill up the bar at the top. The creatures will come from the bottom of the screen and float upwards. If they start reaching the top, they will eventually be frozen in the encasing ice of Plubert.
When you save enough of them to move on to the next level, you'll get a screen that shows you how many points you have been awarded. Additionally, there are other items that you can chain off with, like beach balls and rescue bombs. There are five different items to get (including poewr-ups acquired through long chains) that will add a bonus to your score.
As the levels progress, the pace picks up quickly and more monsters will be on the screen at once, making it harder to group and match. Your screen will eventually be encased in ice, and at some point, it's game over.
When it's game over, Monster Soup will give you a High Score screen (or not, if you can't beat your previous scores) and prompt you for your initials. High scores are saved locally, but there is also Game Center integration.
Game Center integration will include high scores and achievements. There are plenty of achievements to get, so the re-playability level is high.
The game looks simple, but it's not. Kieffer Bros. has always makes you think of strategies in order to get the highest score possible, and Monster Soup is no exception.
Like with their previous titles, the graphics of Monster Soup are gorgeous and cute. The game looks great on my iPhone 4, and the gameplay is very engaging. The music and sound effects behind the game fit very well.
It's another hit from Kieffer Bros. At $1 and a universal app, this is definitely worth getting, especially if you like color-matching games.
