[Casual Friday] Shape Shift

For this week’s Casual Friday I’m looking at Backflip Studios’ newest hit Shape Shift. It already has thousands of downloads but is it really any different from the already popular Bejewled Blitz?

Being a long term Blitzer, I was very hesitant in even giving this game a chance, but seeing how highly it was rated and by so many people I had to see what was behind this seeming rip-off. The gameplay is very similar to Bejeweled where you have pieces that you need to move around to match up. Instead of purely different shapes here, you have shapes and colors. The biggest difference is that instead of only moving adjacent pieces, you can now move from anywhere around the board as long as you’re moving the same shape. This alone was a very welcomed addition because it gave you so many more options. To make the game play a little more difficult though now you have to match four. This pretty much covers the basics of the gameplay. Nothing necessarily out of the norm. The game is definitely simple and easy to jump into.

There are two game modes. The easiest of these being Zen mode. In all honesty, I don’t really understand it. It’s kind of like being in a hyperbolic chamber. You pretty much have the ability to do whatever you want and it will never end. Think of it as a practice mode of sorts. If you’re looking for a game that is endless and can kill some time, Zen mode will do that alone. However, I need an objective or at least an opportunity to fail so I can fight it and strive. If you are on the same page as me, then Classic mode is perfect. After the first couple of levels in Classic mode, you’ll encounter bomb blocks and can actually lose! These appear with a number that counts down how many moves you have left until it explodes and you lose. It starts off really easy with the blocks counting down from 20, but you never need more than three moves to remove any block. But every level that you advance the blocks will subtract a number, taking you ever closer to the game over screen. Eventually you’ll have 5 or more blocks at a time that are counting down and you need to figure out how to destroy them in the least possible moves.

Overall this is a great game to pick up if you want to have a game that will kill some time. Though the Classic mode is a lot of fun, it takes a long time to really get challenging and that made the game somewhat boring and tedious because I knew how long it would take to make the game really exciting. However this game is free with ads and ad-free for 99 cents. I’m keeping it in my library for those days where I want to just drain some battery.

Do you have any games that you keep around just for those rainy days or maybe doctors visits? If so, comment on which ones you keep stashed away.