Creature Feep
Where's My Water?
Rating:
5 Stars
After making quite the splash as the Amazon Free App of the Day back in December of 2011, Where’s My Water? has continued its success since then across both the Android and iPhone platforms. This innovative puzzler, surprisingly from Disney, features well over 250 levels, two separate story lines, and plenty of bonus items to collect. Swampy, our poor alligator protagonist, just simply wants to take a bath to clean up for his love interest Allie; however, the dastardly Cranky has foiled his plans for relaxation and cleanliness by destroying the pipes that deliver water to his tub. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to traverse the sewers and wipe away sand, dirt, or whatever else gets in your way to carefully transport water to Swampy’s living quarters. Don’t forget to pick up some rubber duckies on the way, because everyone knows bath time isn’t complete without a little yellow squeaking companion.
The Fun Stuff:
Puzzle games may be an oversaturated category in the mobile gaming market, but the geniuses at Creature Feep boldly decided to drop the use of word puzzles and forgo flinging animals at each other in favor of a very original and clever game mechanic. Although attempting to utilize the flow of liquids is almost foreign to game design, that concept of understanding the basic physics of the flow of water is something that everyone learns and understands from a very young age. Creature Feep zeroed in on that knowledge and designed a game that’s accessible to almost everyone capable of handling the devices the game is on. You simply drag your finger through dirt to remove portions of it allowing liquid to flow through winding pathways to ultimately land in the severed end of the pipe connecting directly to Swampy’s bathtub. It’s simple, intuitive, and very unique, as is the subject matter of the game.
It’s not too often you hear “adorable” used in the same sentence with “alligators”, but Creature Feep has worked some Disney magic and created a little alligator named Swampy you really care about. It helps that all of the graphics from the game match the typical animated art style from Disney’s repertoire. Between the shower curtain loading screen and the various rubber duckies wearing lab coats, capes, and hats; there is plenty of charm to go around. If collecting things is your favorite, there’s plenty of achievements to unlock throughout the game. Additionally, a la Disney’s The Little Mermaid, there are also plenty of trinkets to collect, with everything from a miniature Statue and an old radio to the basics such as a bar of soap and floss, all of which unlock bonus levels.
These bonus levels have an entirely unique game mechanic, different yet from everything else included in Where’s My Water? Although still affecting the flow of water, it’s now done by rotating your phone around as opposed to letting gravity take its natural course. Although this is never featured later in the game, the normal game mode does have more than just swiping away dirt. There will be switches, moving parts, pipe systems, different liquids to use in various combinations, and even the clever use of steam. All-in-all, there’s plenty to do and enough variety that you’ll never get bored.
The Frustrating Stuff:
In a very abnormal decision Disney and Creature Feep have decided to release a free version which contains extra levels not available in the full version of the game. The decision to withhold content from paying users in favor of giving it exclusively to those who didn’t runs completely against the grain, none-the-less it can be forgiven seeing as it’s free and anyone who purchased the full version can also download the free version. Still, this could be a bit troubling to some who want to add those twenty levels to their already staggering list of accomplishments from the full game.
Bottom Line:
Where’s My Water? has everything going for it. It’s incredibly unique, flawlessly designed, and as if there wasn’t enough content already, more is continuously being added. This game is definitely on the “must have” list for mobile games. If you’re hesitant, you can always check out the aforementioned free version first (links below), but soon you’ll realize that the $0.99 asking price for the full game is highway robbery. As an added bonus, you can also get a free $1 in Amazon MP3 credit if you buy the full version – as of April 28, 2012 – although there’s no word on how long that deal will last.
Google Play
Amazon App Store
iTunes
Where’s My Water? was developed by Creature Feep and published by Disney Mobile. It’s available for both Android and iOS devices for $0.99
Anthony Ortale writes news and reviews on behalf of Examiner.com. He does so much gaming in his spare time, it’s practically a full time job! If you like what you read here, please subscribe to his articles! You can also follow Tony on Twitter, or become a fan on Facebook! If you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to email Tony any time at ortale.anthony@gmail.com, he would love to hear from you