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- Price: $0.99 (Download here)
- Version: 1.0
- Official Site: Toco Games
Perhaps my favorite type of iPhone game is the simple puzzle title that’s easy to get into and out of and is designed to work seamlessly with the iPhone’s unique interface. Judging from the popularity of games like Flight Control, I seem to be in good company. Perhaps that’s why I’m so disappointed with Magnify Physics.
The concept here is as promising as it is simple: push colored bubbles around the screen and collect points. Bubbles of the same size and color will combine when they touch to form larger bubbles worth more points, while all other bubbles will bounce off of each other.
Periodically, a rotating light beam will briefly highlight bubbles of a certain color, which you can then touch to pop and score points. The bigger the popped bubble, the more points it’s worth.
The challenge is that any bubbles that touch the edge of the screen will freeze for a few seconds, and frozen bubbles cannot be moved, combined, or popped. Allow too many bubbles on the screen at once, and it’s game over. That’s the game in a nutshell; repeat to try for higher scores, and post your best to the OpenFeint online leaderboard.
Pushing the bubbles around is every bit the simple pleasure you would expect, and the collision physics feel natural. Starting a touch too near a bubble can result in some unexpectedly super-powered shots, but the game uses an on-screen cursor to clearly mark your area of influence. You’ll quickly get used to the finger motions necessary to move the bubbles precisely, so the only time the control really gets tricky is when the bubbles move near the edge of the screen.
The clean, candy-colored graphics help give the game much of its appeal, and I especially appreciate the symbols within the bubbles. Not only do they differentiate the bubble colors for color-blind players, but they also distinguish the size of the bubbles, which I find helpful when a bubble is isolated enough that there is no nearby size reference.
Clearly, Magnify Physics has a solid foundation for an excellent touch-based puzzle game. So why am I disappointed? The game too often suffers from graphical slowdowns, short freezes, and even the occasional crash, especially when popping highlighted bubbles. It’s not an infrequent occurrence, and it seems to happen more often the longer you play.
As in similar puzzle games, the game’s pace picks up quickly as you progress; any framerate hiccups aren’t just frustrating, they’re potentially crippling.
I suppose I am obligated to mention that I played the game on an original first-gen iPhone, but I’ve seen my trusty hardware smoothly handle far more graphically intensive games. Hopefully, the developers will release an update that addresses this issue, but until and unless that happens, I find Magnify Physics difficult to recommend.
Hello, im the designer of Magnify Physics. Just wanted to say that we are aware of the problems with the first generation Devices and are currently working on a update that should solve these. The update will also include a brand new game mode with a lot of levels.
Excellent! I am looking forward to playing the new version.
[...] features exactly the same gameplay found in Toco Games’ earlier title, Magnify Physics (see my earlier review for details). Importantly, however, the terrible slowdown problems that plagued Magnify Physics [...]