Spotlight December

01.12.2006 | Super Drop Mania

We would have liked to have a true Christmas themed game up for the December Spotlight, but frankly, none of the titles that fit that description were any good. Instead, we've chosen a great puzzle game that happens to have some christmas- and winter themed backgrounds in it. The puzzle genre is probably best represented and best played on the mobile phone. A good and truly distinctive puzzle game is hard to come by, though. Many of them are clones that are never as addictive and appealing as the original.

With a name like Super Drop Mania, you would think that this game is nothing but another Tetris-like creation. And while you wouldn't be completely wrong, Super Drop Mania has far more going for it. Here we have an action puzzler that is best described as a cross between the brick dropping gameplay of, indeed, a game like Tetris, and the colour matching found in a game like Super Bust-A-Move. The smoothness and fluidity with which Super Drop Mania pulls this off is what sets it appart from titles that have attempted to marry two dominant types of action puzzling game play.

 

In Super Drop Mania you start out with a screen filled with gelitanous, multi coloured shapes and a row at the top in which little square stones of the same colours are lined up. By moving your cursor around you can select two stones and make them swap positions, a bit like in Bejeweled!, as much as the game time permits you. When you've created a line up of your liking, you will drop down two adjacent stones of your choice. Upon making contact with the on screen masses, the stones either become one with jelly of corresponding colour and form their own entity when falling on top of jelly of another colour. Like so, you will be filling up your screen and the only way to empty it is to drop down trigger stones with corresponding colours, that zap away a complete mass. The bigger the mass, the bigger your amount of points, of course. And naturally, all kinds of combos can be made. On top of that, bonuses are received for quickly emptying a screen, before moving on to a new level.

Super Drop Mania's game play is as addictive as any other good action puzzle game. And despite borrowing elements from other games in the genre, it does have its own unique feel. It also must be said that this game features a great mix of 2D and 3D graphics, and the screen really comes alive with vivid backgrounds, special effects and a constantly moving background. It's due to the action being very easy to overview, that none of these graphical features distract from the in-game events. And then there's the sound. Never before has a mobile game featured such a dynamic and pleasing soundtrack, in combination with truly impressive sound effects. The sound of most other mobile games doesn't even come close.

All this makes for an extremely polished package, that only adds to the great game play. Super Drop Mania is simply a must for every puzzle fan, and even puzzle-wary gamers. The only criticism of this game is the lack of additional game play modes. But when the main game is this addictive, it's not much of an issue.