Android Gamer: Weekend Play: The Tower: A Simple and Elegant Stacking Game

Published on Saturday, 20 September 2014 02:23

Written by Jaymes Carter

Just because the week is over doesn't mean there aren't great games to be discovered. If you are in a rush and only have a few moments to get some gaming in this weekend, you should try a game called The Tower. The game was created by AYA Games and is currently published by Ketchapp Mobile Game Studio based in Italy. The premise of the game is uncomplicated. Build your tower by stacking the moving pieces on top of one another. The game is entertaining and remarkably elegant, because of the level of detail put into the game and its crisp and clean graphics.

The game starts you off at the base of a tower. The goal is to stack the tower as high as you can. You start off with a piece that is moving horizontally across your screen. That first piece will fit perfectly on top of the piece below it. The placing of the pieces is done with a simple touch of the screen. You are awarded points for how you stack the pieces as you build your tower. You are awarded more points if the stacking is perfect or good. If the stacked piece does not fall into that category, you receive fewer points and a piece of the block you are using to stack is shaved off. Also, when this happens, it speeds up the movement of the horizontal piece that is to be stacked. The better you stack the tower, the slower the pace of the game. What is surprising, is that you can actually get down to slivers of pieces that you are stacking.

The 2D game atmosphere is what is most impressive. You can tell that AYA games has an eye for fine detail, and these tiny flourishes make the game. As you ascend the tower, the piece you will always place will be an architrave piece. This is the horizontal piece that you typically see sitting right on top of a column capital. However, once the piece is placed, it alternates between being an architrave piece or a row of columns. This actually helps the player stack the piece easier because it almost gives you a guiding edge since that edge is straight. The row of columns have topiary type trees interspersed within them, as well as what looks like light fixtures hanging from the ceiling. Your tower is set against a backdrop of leisurely moving clouds. A cardinal flutters from level to level as you tower grows higher. Once you get up to floor level forty-five or so, the rain and storms begin. The background grows darker, clouds pick up speed and lightning begins to flash. The intensity of the game ratchets up when you have moving things in the background. Placing potentially small pieces in the midst of the rain and thunder and lightning is not necessarily easy.

The Tower is a true free-to-play game. There aren't any in-app purchases to be had here. The coins that you accrue in the game for good stacking, can be used for purchasing a head start, coin doubler or insurance. If you choose to purchase a head start, a multicolored meter appears that is moving up and down. The numbers range from five to fifteen. If you tap it at the right time, you gain access to fifteen perfectly stacked floors. The head start costs 1000 coins. The coins in the game are easy to accrue, so don't let that scare you. If you purchase the coin doubler, it does just that. It doubles the coins you receive during your session of play. You buy insurance just in case you get to a high level and you make a bad move. You are given the opportunity to place that piece again. The game is integrated with Google Game Play Services and it comes with eleven achievements to unlock and leaderboards.

Aya Games and KetchApp Mobile Studios have done well with this title. It is one of those games that you can sit and play for a while, or for quick bursts of fun. It is simple enough that anyone can play it young or old. There are ads in the game, but they do not occur during game play. They only appear once your game is over. There aren't any timers either for you to have to wait to play again. If there were an unlock to remove ads, it would definitely be worth doing so because The Tower is a fun and well-produced game. On their Twitter page, AYA games says that other tower designs are coming. They are taking requests for what types of towers people want to build, so hopefully this game will be updated for quite some time. Time to get back to building my tower!

Google Play Link: http://ift.tt/1qTlQEX