This review was originally published on 30/01/2016 on our sister site
Now and again, I find myself getting hooked to some form of puzzle game. They can range from Peggle to Portal, but when I’m hooked I can’t stop playing them. They will take over for a brief period while I either try to beat the game (in the case of Portal) or beat mind or my friends’ high score (in the case of Peggle). At first glance I thought that Sparkle 2 was going to be another one of these games. It is another variation of the tried and tested ‘match 3 or more’ formula, think Candy Crush Saga or Beehive Bedlam on the old Sky boxes, and yes, I was hooked on those too. And I think Sparke 2 could have been another one, but its design decisions have made it far more suited to the mobile platform, to a home console experience.
The premise of the game is that you need to work your way through each level to find 5 enchanted keys that are used to open a lock that guards something valuable, no one has yet discovered the mystery but now it’s your turn -very much straightforward stuff. To complete each level you need to clear all the coloured marbles off the screen by shooting other coloured marbles into them. Created 3 or more in a row will make the line of marbles disappear. Rows of marbles constantly moving down predetermined paths towards holes in the ground, if one falls down a hole before you remove it from the screen you will fail the level. As you proceed you can pick up different power ups which will change the way the marble you shoot behaves, be it revering the direction of the flow, blasting a whole load at once, or one of a few more different powers. You even see multipliers flying around as you continue to make good shots. But this for me is where the game falls on its face a bit.
As soon as I see multipliers or numbers knocking about I immediately assume there should be some sort of score being stored. Maybe, probably even, a leaderboard to you can compare how well you are doing with the rest of the friends list and the rest of the world. But this is nowhere to be seen. It is a strange choice, because decided to omit this, for me at least takes away any sort of incentive to play this type of game. So far, there doesn’t even seem to be a way to go back to play a previous level. It’s just a case of ploughing through each one as they come, before moving to the next. There is no sense of reward. There are times when multiple lines of marbles, the numbers of holes and speed of the game makes it more challenging, but completing it just sees you move onwards. And with each level being essentially the same thing, but maybe in a different shape, or a slight increase in difficulty, there isn’t anything here to make me want to do well.
I can most certainly see the draw of this game on a handheld device when you have 5 minutes to spare on break, or playing during a commute. But to sit down in the comfort of my living room I need more from a game like this to make me want to play, and simple choices and additions could have led to this being a success on a home console. But as it is, I wouldn’t recommend it. Still to Peggle 2 for your casual puzzle fix.
