Sprinkle: Water splashing fire fighting fun! Review
PROS
- Fantastic water physics (good visuals and sound too).
CONS
- Some may not like having to pay for extra levels.
- Controls aren't optimal.
VERDICT
“Great use of water in an iPhone app” seems like an odd selling point, but the way Sprinkle revolves its puzzles around the much needed liquid is worth the price of admission alone.
- Full Review
- App Store Info
There have been a few games in the App Store that have had players putting out fires with hoses, but none of them have seemed to pull it off with such finesse as the developers of Sprinkle have. It seems that Earth tourists are constantly crashing into the straw huts on Titan, one of Saturn's moons. Rather than let the inhabitants have their homes destroyed, it's up to you to man the water cannon and put out the fires, wasting as little water as possible.
The hose is manned by three controls. Pressing the big red button in the bottom right of the screen will fire the water, while the nozzle itself can be aimed in an arc, and the height of the hose can be adjusted as well. The trick to each stage is to put out the fires using as little water as possible (with a perfect run netting you five drops on level completion). This is achieved using slopes and crevices in the landscape to create optimum routes for your water to travel down (often there being objects such as windmills and rocks either aiding or impeding your progress).
What makes this game such a joy to play is how amazing the water is. Not only visually, but the way it pools up, splashes over ridges and drains away shows that the developers really fine-tuned this aspect of the game. This is noticeable in the sound department as well, with the water sounding really great at the expense of the other sound effects and music (not that the rest of the graphics and sound are bad, they're just not as noticeable).
The first two worlds of Sprinkle shouldn't take you long to complete, but if you wish to continue with more content, you can either achieve five drops on every level, or pay an extra couple of dollars for the rest of the game. Depending on how much you enjoy this great entry into the physics puzzle genre will influence whether or not there is value in this transaction.
Screenshots
$1.99
