Dapple (iPhone)

iPhone integration (About)

Save state: Yes
iPod music: Yes
Status bar: Yes

App Store Links: Purchase | Lite

Version: 1.0
Price as reviewed: £2.99
by Streaming Colour Studios

Designing games for the iPhone needs a careful hand to evaluate key behaviours that users depend upon. Going the extra mile is providing enough of these features to make the app feel like it should be on the platform. And that's exactly what Dapple has - little touches like two separate auto save slots (solo play and multiplayer), a permanent status bar, and playing your own music underneath it's own sound effects - to name a few. These are all small features, but they really help to make the difference for the whole user experience. But a great user experience is nothing if the gameplay is poor - thankfully, Streaming Colour didn't skimp on Dapple's playability.

Dapple provides a thoughtful twist on the matching game genre. Each match is in fact, a blob of paint - which, as we all know, changes colour if you mix it with another. You create a match (of at least 4 tiles) by changing a blob of paint to fit with those that surround it. For example if you have 3 green tiles in a straight line, with a yellow tile to the immediate left of it, painting the yellow tile with a blue blob (on your paintbrush) turns it green and applies the match. Then, more blobs come down from the top and fill gaps - creating huge combos if you are lucky. Fortunately, the colour wheel offers a guide to what the resulting colour is when you mix your current paint blob with one that's on the board - so by using that for the first few times you'll come to understand how to score huge points.

In addition, there's bonus blobs that can help to clear large regions of paint - awarded when you make big matches. There's the water drop that removes 9 of the squares surrounding it when matched, and the diamond, which removes all blobs of the same colour from the board. These come in handy, especially when the game progresses onwards - as you level up, brown paint is introduced to the board. Brown paint cannot be changed, no matter what colour you throw at it (although it can still be matched), and worse still, if left unchecked it spreads itself to other tiles. Eventually you get overrun with brown tiles and this ends the game.

Playing Timed Mode introduces a timer into proceedings, making the game a little more frenzied - it's up to you which solo mode you prefer, but we enjoyed the Classic mode if only because it gives you more leg room to make a move. But far better than both these modes is the two player all out versus battle. This mode gives you one half of the board, with a second player taking the other - taking it in turns to make moves, scoring big reduces the area on which the other player has to play. The game is won when you completely remove their ability to make matches. It works very well - and because all of the modes have four difficulty settings, it's got challenge for both novices and seasoned artists.

The presentation is great - a splotchy rainbow coloured package with some wacky fonts - it really helps add to the casual atmosphere of the game - as does the relaxing music, which is pretty varied, suiting the game well. It's also of note that the game includes a colourblind mode, making things easier for those who can't see certain colours well. Overall, Dapple is a solidly presented game with great attention to detail. It might not have the longevity of some of the games on the store - but that's okay, as the versus mode will hold it's own if you're looking for a quick duel.