In many respects, Tumbledrop is akin to Topple, a game that appeared in the App Store little over a year ago. The title was fairly inventive on the gameplay front but didn’t deliver lasting, long term value—even though the price was dropped to free and a sequel released. We’re not sure how many hours you’ll get out of this game, but its approach is a much more entertaining one that takes the tilt functionality out of the picture. With 60 levels, each compact enough to fit on the screen, this game makes perfect sense whilst you’re out and about.

Like Topple you have a crew of anthropomorphic shapes—balloons, mushrooms, triangles, rectangles and the like. Each block is “aware” of its surroundings and will either have a smile, frown or shocked expression on their face depending on the situtation. The technique is a familiar one but it’s convincing nonetheless, and helps to make this game really rather cute and fun.

Where it differs from that shape stacking game is that you have to maintain the balance of the tower of blocks long enough to gently ease the pink star down to solid ground. You do this by removing shapes—not Jenga style but simply a tap will make it vanish as if by magic. But you can’t simply tap all the shapes away at once as there is a timer that forces an interval between taps. Fortunately it has never seemed like too long a time, and you’ll simply just try a different strategy if the one you picked failed. And that’s easy to do, thanks to a near instant load time if you want to start over.

What does make this one compelling is the achievement system that awards different strategies with different medals. If you manage to beat a level by removing as little blocks as possible and letting gravity do the rest, you’ll earn a star medal—whereas if you take your time and remove either all or almost all the blocks you’ll win a heart medal. If you’re not especially bothered, you can just get the rainbow achievement by finishing the level and landing the star on the ground, but if you’re a completist this effectively gives you two opportunities to play a level with a different strategy both times. It is a clever ploy to extend game life but even if you don’t care about getting all the medals, 60 levels for £1.19 is a bargain.

Underneath the brightly coloured exterior actually lies a rather challenging physics puzzler. It is safe to say that the look and style of Tumbledrop is easily the hook that will keep you playing this game—watching blocks tumble and fall down doesn’t get tiring. Plus, you get some overly cute music, and sound effects that suit the aesthetic down to the ground. Couple that with quick, accessible levels that are great for bus journeys and you have a very solid first iPhone game from this up and coming developer. Recommended.

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