Where’s My Water?, is a simple yet effective game when it comes to keeping things varied, keeping it simple, and keeping it entertaining. Generally someone drops at least one of those, and we end up with a puzzle game that just doesn’t hack it in today’s market. Disney and developer Walaber, however, do a great job of pumping out the fun with this somewhat goofy, silly-sounding game of giving large reptiles a shower. So let’s put on our wetsuits, grab a mining pick, and have a blast in this mildly-too-happy puzzle game.
So the basic premise of the game involves a water source, three ducks, and an alligator. And as much as that sounds like a setup for a terrible joke, I assure you its more about digging through dirt with your fingertips. I wasn’t really sure what to expect out of a game called Where’s My Water? with a cute alligator and Disney logo. It didn’t exactly have me screaming for joy like I just got my first Nintendo 64. But with the iOS store sale, and it being free, I said why not. I was very surprised, and I truly hope you read my blog post a few weeks ago, and grabbed all the games while they were free.
After a few stages of spraying water from one tube to the next, making sure to hose down the ducks to get full points, things started to get a bit more difficult. If any of you out there don’t know me well, I love a challenge. I half expected this to be a crappy physics game cashing in on the success of cut the rope and angry birds. But no, surprise… surprise… it’s a great game. While I still feel the physics champion of the iOS gaming community belongs to cut the rope, Where’s My Water? is a fantastically made title.
While the game is only 99 cents, you may feel inclined to spend an additional 99 cents. A few times. Ok, quite a few times.
Some of the levels you will need to take your time and pre-plan out where your water will be and where it will go. For others, you will need to think fast and outplay the falling acid. Yeah, the alligator doesn’t exactly approve of it when you fill his tub with a liquid that can dissolve the earth. On that thought, he doesn’t really like you filling it up with poisonous purple death either. Just so you have a heads up. As you move through the stages things get added to the levels to keep the game fresh, which is fantastic. From bombs that explode if you touch them with liquid, to moving gates that need to be triggered from across the level.
Nothing makes me happier than water, that has flown over dirty rocks, ducks, been shoved in and out of pipes, and may or may not have been boiled, frozen, mixed with poison, or turned into mold at one point in time.
Now this title is not for everyone, if you don’t enjoy the physics type game, this may not be for you. Occasionally a level is really tight and specific on where you need to drag your finger through the dirt. The thanksgiving bonus level is an example of this, you need to drag a tunnel and make an arc with it, to shoot the water high enough to get a duck, too low and you drag through the ground, ruining it to where you either say “ok, skipping this level…” or get only 2 ducks.
Nothing brings an alligator more joy than… water.
I’m having a hard time poking fun at this one, as it’s a pretty solid game. A true tell-tale sign: if OWC Tony can’t make fun of your game, then you’re doing things really well. While there is some comedic value in cracking some jokes about alligators in showers, this seems like it would be just a cheap shot. And while I will still worry about what happened to the poor fellow who managed to crawl into the deep dark undergrounds like Gollum and drop three ducks in each level, I think I will end this review here with the following words of praise:
Great job to the developers, great job to the artists, and thank you kindly for putting out a great puzzle game that doesn’t rely on randomly generated candy.
Graphics:
Another cleanly cut goofy graphic puzzle game on the iOS store, but again it has no faults. Even the menus and level select screens where artistically created with well made visuals. Everything brings the game together, and the fantastically designed liquid physics earns Where’s my water a wonderful five.
Gameplay:
While moving water around the screen to try and accomplish a goal is not my favorite past time, and frankly I do enough of that in Minecraft, I still have to hand it to the designers. They made a great puzzle game that kept things fresh the whole way through.
Audio:
If I never have to hear that alligator groan about not having water again, that would be great. I wont be surprised if I have a groaning-alligator-in-my-shower nightmare some time soon. That being said it’s not a “bad” sound. Just like the rest of the audio in the game it was quire well made, and fits the theme of the game perfectly. It was nice to see each set of levels have its own theme music to match the character of the level, instead of pulling the cheap way out and having a single theme.
Innovation:
I don’t think I have ever come across a game where I need to fill a tub with water, so a very happy looking alligator can clean himself. While not something I would create a sub-genre for, Where’s my water? Takes the physics-puzzler trophy for making something like this. The physics of the water are fantastic, and not something I would expect to see in an iOS game.
Overall:
Ugh. It happened guys. It finally happened. I had to, I gave in. I caved. I will be crying at my desk all day. Where’s my water? Has managed to squeeze a five out of me, but truthfully, they deserved it. I was blown away by the levels never falling into the trap of being the same thing for the last ten puzzles. Everyone involved in this project should pat themselves on the back, go have a vacation, and enjoy the weekend.
the turn-based rpg genre is a bit over-represented here
also Donkey Kong Country should have been way higher (28th place as it is), ign even says it saved the console and then they put 2 Tetris games over it?
personal taste transpired a bit too much in this
Regards
Alisha Ross