Match Five Thingies And Feed The Greedy Sponge
The Greedy Sponge ($0.99) by Ivica Aracic is a simple and visually appealing match-five puzzle game where you feed a hungry sponge groups of “Thingies.”
Gameplay is simple. When you start, the game board is filled with cute orange, blue, red, and purple Thingies. Your goal is to line up five of the same color, so that they can be removed from the board. To move rows of Thingies, you tap to the left or right to move them from side to side, lining up matching colors above and below.
When five of the same color Thingies are matched, they will drop down into the mouth of the hungry sponge waiting to be fed. When a middle row is mostly cleared of Thingies, moving a row left or right can shift the rows apart, causing a large group of Thingies to drop into the sponge. Doing this can add tons of points to your score.
There’s an overabundance of matching games available in the App Store, but with crisp, colorful graphics and a unique side-to-side matching mechanic, The Greedy Sponge manages to feel original.
Gameplay starts out slow, but as you progress through non-stop levels as the sponge is fed, the pace speeds up and quickly becomes frantic. Getting to level 10 or above is a true test of skill and clever thinking to puzzle out the most efficient move.
Two modes of gameplay are available: timed and survival. In timed mode, you have five minutes to earn as many points as possible. In survival mode, you play until the Thingies reach the bottom of the screen, which will end the game.
There is Game Center integration with several achievements and leaderboards, so you can compete with friends and people all over the world for the best score. The Greedy Sponge also features Facebook and Twitter integration, allowing you to share your high scores on your favorite social network.
The graphics were my favorite part about this game. The sponge is an adorable little guy, and I had fun feeding him. While this game is entertaining, it’s not something that I could play for long stretches of time.
Without distinct levels, power ups, and other variations in the gameplay, The Greedy Sponge becomes repetitive after just a few minutes. However, with vivid graphics and an engaging style of gameplay, it is fun to pick up and play in short bursts of time. It’s free this weekend, so now is a great time to check it out.
