After reviewing so many games with the same tired features in them, it’s refreshing to play something that takes a traditional puzzler and flips it upside down; and on its side; and right side up again. Gritfish’s Mallow Drop brings the fun of simple action puzzles and adds an interesting twist: control of the world itself. Turn everything left, right, and on its head to reach your goal!
Like most puzzlers, Mallow Drop is easy to learn, and hard to master. You play as a kiwi trying to rescue your eggs, except instead of catapulting yourself into pigs you’re flying across the stage while shifting the gravity with the camera angle. Once you successfully catch three eggs, you can make your way to the door and head on to the next stage. Each setting is made up of twenty puzzles, which slowly introduce new challenges and obstacles to overcome.
As you progress, you’ll face tougher and more intricate puzzles, many of which will test your patience. This is definitely one of those games you should play thirty minutes at a time; otherwise, you risk getting too frustrated with that one switch or snake and give up the game for good. Fortunately, you get three chances to skip puzzles, which will save you a few headaches. You can also restart a puzzle any time you want, so don’t worry about digging yourself in too deep; there will even come a time where you’ll have to start over.
Once you’ve completed a puzzle, view how you fared compared to other STEAM players. The scoreboard takes camera turns and moves into account, so you’ll need to really plan ahead if you want to break the top ten.
Overall, Mallow Drops is a blast for anyone who likes puzzle games and wants to test their spatial awareness. The game can be frustrating at times, and dizzying more often than you’d expect, but the solutions aren’t beyond the limits of anyone with some time to kill. Mallow Drops is currently only available on STEAM, but Gritfish plans to release an iOS and Android version in early 2017. Hopefully, most players won’t drop their phones turning the world upside down!
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