Following up a smash hit on mobile devices can prove challenging. Off the heels of Angry Birds‘ rising success, Rovio launched Amazing Alex, a solid puzzle game yet not one that measured up to its first gaming endeavor.
Now, the studio behind the successful Cut the Rope series hopes to strike similar magic with Pudding Monsters for Google Android and Apple iOS devices. Whether it matches the 250 million downloads of ZeptoLab’s debut game remains to be seen, but Pudding Monsters is an adorable yet challenging puzzle game.
The game features gelatinous pudding characters whose friends have been swiped by their refrigerator’s owner, forcing the monsters to venture out in search. Levels start out on a kitchen table before moving outside the owner’s home and into the city.
The goal of each stage is to collect separate monsters into one giant pudding mass. Players swipe the touchscreen to join monsters together while ensuring they land on stars arranged in levels.
As the game progresses, players will use monsters with other abilities, such as ones that leave a sticky trail, or sleeping ones that players must wake up by joining, and trios that move in tandem with every swipe. Carefully-placed obstacles can allow players to move monsters without watching them slide away, thus failing the stage.
Pudding Monsters features 75 levels, with more stages launching in the future in the form of downloadable updates.
The game is quite charming and creative in how levels are constructed. While the task of forming these masses requires a simple swipe of the finger, determining the best approach and snagging the most stars is where Pudding Monsters truly entertains.
It’s too soon to figure out whether Pudding Monsters will reach the status of Cut The Rope, which has expanded quickly into merchandising and other areas outside games. However, ZeptoLab’s second game is still a joy to play.
Developer: ZeptoLab
Platform(s): Android, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch
Price: $0.99-$2.99
Release Date: Dec. 20
Score: 3.5 stars (out of 4)
