Topple the pops
Topple was the first iPhone game that I downloaded from the App store, mainly because of its high position in a list labelled with the words 'Top' and 'Free'. The app hasn't always lived there, according to the blurb the game was made free to celebrate the launch of the developers most popular 'paid' app Rolando. So right off the bat you're getting a game that a) people have previously paid actual money for and b) is from the makers of the amazing Rolando!
The idea of Topple is simple. Blocks of various shapes and sizes will fall from the sky and it’s your job to stack them in a fashion so that the created tower won’t topple over. You can rotate the blocks using two fingers (one touching the block and the other to turn) and you can also move a block by touching it. The aim of all this is to create a tower tall and stable enough to reach the levels ‘goal line’ within the set time period. There is also a ‘bonus line’ above this for those who like to work just that little bit harder. You can also tilt your iPhone left and right if you feel you want to lean your tower to increase stability. The blocks have cartoon-like faces and are nicely animated to express their feelings on your stacking skills.
The game is well done, and goes about as far as you’d expect from ‘Building a tower out of weird, but cute shaped things’ iPhone game. It’s not without its faults, turning the blocks is a little tricky and difficult, sometimes I’ve found myself not bothering with the turning aspect, and just positioning the blocks in certain ways. You also get the feeling that when you reach a certain height the bottom of your tower gets forgotten about (ie. Could you really balance that on a single long block base that looked a bit wobbly when you last saw it?!) Also there seems to be only 9 levels, there is however a good tutorial and a free play mode.
At the end of the day, it’s probably one of the most polished freebies out in the App store.