Droplitz

Droplitz

Daily PC Game Review Score: 8 / 10
Game Category: Casual - Arcade, Puzzle
Date: 30 Jan 2011

Droplitz is a game distributed by Atlus - the software game developers more well known for their console RPGs. This is a simple action puzzle game that may keep you glued to your PC monitor for quite a few hours. I should know, because according to my Steam records, I have clocked 6 hours with this game already.

To me, the game feels like a modern man's version of Tetris combined with Pipe Dream. But, other than a vague link to dropping tiles and the fact that there are pipes, well, the similarities all end there.

In Droplitz, the tiles are called dials and they come in several varieties. The cool twist here is you get to rotate dials such that your droplitz (silver little blobs that reminds me of liquid mercury) can be guided via a pathway from any of the droppers at the top of the screen all the way to any of the collectors at the bottom. You have a limited amount of droplitz, so if you run out, the game ends. For every completed pathway, a purple droplitz is released to replenish your stock of droplitz. Your completed pathways will be replaced by new dials and you will score points. At the same time, your droplitz will start to fall faster and faster.

Warning... this game can be pretty addictive and fun!!!

That's a simple enough concept for a game coming from Blitz Games Studios. Let's see how the rest of the game stands, shall we?

There are four modes to the game - Classic, Zendurance, Power Up, and Infection. There is no Tutorial mode, but some handy Help pages do help to clarify the objective of the game and what you must do to win.

Classic mode is the first mode available to you. Each new mode is unlocked sequentially by attaining a specific high score from the previous mode. The modes are explained in more detail below:

• Classic mode's gameplay is as described earlier at the beginning of this review. It automatically changes its theme (the music and graphics background and tileset) for every 5 levels attained. 

Unlock boards by scoring high on adjacent boards

• Zendurance mode allows you to use any of the themes unlocked in Classic mode. You are presented with an infinite game where the droplitz gradually build up speed as your score continues its relentless climb into the millions.
• Power Up mode introduces different color blobs that denote power-ups that you can collect. Power-ups include Freeze, Bomb, Super Bomb, and Slow.
• Infection mode simulates a virus overrun of the board. When a dial has been infected, you will find that it turns at a much slower rate. This adds only more pressure to the game as it becomes a race against time to "apply medication" to save the entire board from being infected.

Watch the purple droplitz make their way down

There is a leaderboard service where you can track your scores against friends you make on the Steam service. Or you can browse through the top scores and goggle at how people can spends hours playing Droplitz to attain a score of a hundred million. Nevertheless, these high score truly deserve mention in the Guinness World Records - it would probably take a few hours just to attain them.

Power-up time: Freeze, buster!

One things for sure though, once you start playing Droplitz, you may find that you don't want to stop. Don't say I didn't warn you. This game is highly addictive... and deserves your money. I am glad to have made this purchase.

For those who are interested in making games such as Droplitz, you may want to also read this article on Gamasutra where Blitz Games Studios share the lessons learnt in the development of this great game.

Difficulty ramps up with bigger boards