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Fishtropolis (iPhone)

Review by Ben Briggs, January 05, 2010

iPhone integration (About)
  • Save state: Yes
  • iPod music: Yes
  • Status bar: No
  • Version: 1.4
  • Price as reviewed: £1.19
  • by NimbleBit

Back in March we reviewed Textropolis and found it a great word finding title, complete with a slick interface and gameplay ideally suited for a quick couple of minutes or so. Expectations since that review have risen as developers continue to push out games that push the envelope—in such a short space of time the platform has grown immensely.

This is not to say that Fishtropolis is dated or boring because of that, but what it does is exactly the same as its nine month old sibling, albeit with fish instead of people and places. The game engine is indistinguishable from Textropolis, so the same design sensibilities are present here but for a couple of exceptions. Half stars are now awarded instead of silver stars, and shaking the device mixes up the letter grid instead of giving you a hint. We’ll save mentioning how the rest of the game functions as you can get that from the prior review.

As the two games are fairly interchangeable, we will say that if you have one and don’t care for additional content then it isn’t really worth downloading the other. However the gameplay is still as good this time around, even if it is overshadowed by its predecessor, and so for something to do whilst you’re on the move it is still a smart choice.

Grade: C, Good

Although it is completely derivative of NimbleBit’s earlier work, this underwater adventure is still as good.

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