If you have been to this site before then you know we love to complain and moan about matching puzzle games. However, there are few that sneak through the cracks and impress us. Crayon Ball is one of the few.
Crayon Ball is match 4 physics game where loads of little balls fall from the sky and your goal is match up the colors and make big chains for big points. This is done by tapping and poping balls so that 4 or more like colored balls touch and explode. You can also tilt the phone to move all of the balls on the playing field around. The catch is the is the meter at the bottom of the screen. As time progresses this meter gets more full, and when it’s full, it’s game over. Also, every time you tap a ball a chunk of the meter fills up, so you have to choose your moves wisely. When you make a combo, the meter goes down, so conceivably, you could play forever if you are good enough.
The Good
The art style (well really styles) are awesome. You can choose from a number of different themes like Crayon, colored pencil and Van-Gough, each one looks different enough from the others that you won’t get bored looking at the same thing all the time. The sound is also solid, the popping sounds are not overly repetitive and pleasant on the ears. It’s not really ground breaking audio effects, but it’s not intrusive either.
The most important thing here is that the game is incredibly fun and addicting. I have spent countless hours trying to beat my high scores. It’s so simple to pick up and play, but it’s very challenging to be good at the game. You can hand this game to a 4 year old and they can easily understand the mechanics of tapping a ball to make it explode, or you can hand it to the most hardcore gamer you know and they will love the depth of trying to chain massive combos for huge points. However, being that this is a score based game, that brings me to the next part of the review…
The bad
There is no online leader boards in Crayon Ball. This is a huge omission in a score driven game. It’s become industry standard for iPhone games that have any kind of score driven mechanic to include the ability to see how you stack up against the rest of the people playing the game. I’m fairly certain that my scores in Crayon Ball are really good, but I don’t know for sure without the ability to compare my scores to the rest of the world. Beating your own personal score is still fun, but not knowing how you stack up really degrades the experience.
The final Word
In spite of the lack of online leader boards, this is still one of my most played iPhone games, and if you like puzzle games at all you should absolutely pick Crayon Ball up, it’s great for short bursts and long play sessions. It fits perfectly on the iPhone, and is just good old fashioned fun.
Presentation & Graphics
Great visuals, and a slew of different themes to play with, very easy on the eyes.
Sound
Nice sounds, but nothing earth shattering. It doesn’t annoy, and that’s really all I can ask for in a puzzle game.
Gameplay
Incredibly addicting and fun puzzle game play. The physics are great, and this is one of the most purely fun games I have played on the iPhone. Could easily be a 5 with global leader boards.
Gamelife
I spent a ton of time with game, but there is only one mode, so if you don’t really love it, your time may be short.
Game Rating
In spite of major omission, still a great puzzle game.
