iPhone/iPad game of the day: Wispin - cute, colorful puzzle action ... and also laser-barfing blobs

On iPhone:
Game: Wispin
Price: $1.99
Size: 19.3 MB
Get it now on the iTunes store:US/UK

On iPad:
Game: Wispin HD
Price: $2.99
Size: 21.4 MB
Get it now on the iTunes store:US/UK

Colorful blob creatures that vomit laser beams are pretty sweet in our book, even if they’re (sadly) not the hero of this story. But despite his lack of laser beam vomiting, the adorable protagonist in Wispin has his own certain charm – namely the ability to swap out his own color scheme, enabling him to flit around the screen and turn droves of color-monsters who come swarming in into puddles of lifeless goo. This cartoonish combat puzzler offer simplistic, but highly compelling gameplay that’s hard to give up once you get your mitts on it.

Each stage features increasingly hectic waves of the nasty things. You defeat foes by bumping into them, but the trick is you can only squash enemies that match your current color. As you zip around to bump into baddies, you’ll frantically tap a color wheel with your thumb to match foes before you collide with them. Creaming lots of enemy blobs in a row earns you mega points and boosts your score multipliers, but running into a foe of a different color depletes your life meter. Do that too many times, and it’s game over.

The tilt controls are a cool idea and fun to fiddle around with, however, the virtual joystick controls offer a greater level of precision – a necessity when fighting off a screen full of larger brutes and small buggers alike. Zany power-ups lets you pinball around the screen, tap enemies to snuff them out, and launch arrows at your adversaries, among other things. You’ll need these goodies, because Wispin isn’t a pushover in the challenge department. Though it doesn’t take long to get yourself killed, the gameplay is interesting enough to make you want to dive in for another go.

Mar 10, 2011