Exercise Your Eyes, Ears And Reflexes In BubbleManiac

BubbleManiac ($0.99) by Daniel Toranzo Perez is a simple, engaging, and visually-stimulating twitch reflex game that is super easy to pick up and play. It is an endless game, which are always my favorite, and it has been built with a design that was born for iOS 7.

In BubbleManiac, you are in control of one gray bubble that is in the center of the screen, while other ones fall in a straight line behind it. Each bubble that falls is a different size, with the object of the game being to set yours to the same size so they match when both bubbles line up. To change your bubble between each of its three sizes, tap on the left or right side of the display to make it smaller or larger, respectively.

Once you have matched the size of a bubble as it arrives in a Guitar Hero or Rock Band fashion, it will turn green. If the size is incorrect, it will become red, and one of your five lives will be lost. If you turn a streak of bubbles green, the background will begin to glow many colors and pulse in satisfaction, kind of like in Fruit Ninja's arcade mode. As expected, losing all of your lives will end the game.

While the concept is very simple once you figure it out, there are no playing instructions in the app itself. They can be found in the App Store's description, but being thrown right into the game is frustrating without having any previous knowledge. On the bright side, this is the only gripe I have with the game.

Although BubbleManiac's pleasing, vibrant graphics and head-bopping beats are the highlights, the scoring system is also very interesting. One point is awarded for each second of time elapsed, with 100 being given for every green bubble. For example, this means that matching seven bubbles in 12 seconds would give you a score of 712. I like this scoring system because it accounts for bubbles matched and time elapsed.

If you enjoy twitch-reflex games just as much as we do here at AppAdvice, you just might enjoy BubbleManiac. You can find BubbleManiac for your iPhone in the App Store for $0.99.