Find Your Way Around A Circle Through Colorful Explosions In Circle Stop

Circle Stop ($0.99) by Twenty Percent is a reflex game that is very similar to another game called Brutal Loop, which we reviewed shortly before the release of this app. Circle Stop is yet another game that involves tapping at the correct time as an object makes its way around a circle.

The first thing you will notice while playing Circle Stop is the immense explosions of color that occur whenever you tap the screen. As a small circle makes its way around a larger circular pattern, you must tap once it arrives to the other colored circles on the screen. These usually appear in sets of three, with the innermost one being worth the most points. There are also lone bonus circles and circles with tails, which are meant for sliding on by tapping and holding on the screen.

Landing on an ordinary circle from one of the series of three will produce a large pop, and landing on a bonus one will produce an even larger explosion. Finally, while sliding on the tail of a circle that has one, your screen will become so full of colors that it will be difficult to tell when you should let go, which should be done once you reach the circle at the end of that tail.

There is no penalty for simply missing circles, but tapping on an empty space will earn you a large black and white burst and one strike. After three strikes, the game is over, giving you the score that you earned up until that point.

As time goes on, the speed of your circle and the frequency of other circles appearing both increase. Also, to spice things up a bit, there are different colored themes you can choose from in the app's settings.

I am finding Circle Stop to be a lot of fun, especially since it's like a more relaxed version of Brutal Loop. On the iPhone, it looks and feels great, making it all that much more enjoyable. However, while the feel of the game carries over to the iPad, the look fails to do so. Perhaps this was an oversight on the developer's part, albeit a large one, but a lot of the menu text (including one's final score) are cut off due to the different ratio of the iPad display's dimensions. It has me wondering if they ever even opened the app on an iPad.

Update (Dec. 31, 2013): Circle Stop has been updated to resolve display issues on Retina iPads.

While the experience is incomplete on the iPad, Circle Stop is still a fun game on the iPhone. The changing game elements keep it interesting while you play, and the constant explosions of color keep the adrenaline flowing. To get in on this experience, you can find Circle Stop as a $0.99 universal download from the App Store.