Furmins Review

Furmins has a lot to live up to. The first iOS release from Housemarque, previously best known for PS3 titles Super Stardust HD and Dead Nation, Furmins follows a very predictable physics puzzling based path, but with some glorious visuals.

Players take the role of savior of the furmins, creatures that roll around and are in dire need of saving their King. Ultimately, the story is nothing gripping by any means but it sets the scene. The player has to guide all the furmins from their starting position to the basket at the end of each level.

It's a simple sounding process but as with so many physics puzzlers, the difficulty quickly ramps up and gets quite intricate. Much of this is down to the player's inability to directly interact with the furmins. Instead, it's a matter of carefully manipulating the environment around them. Numerous items such as trampolines, ice blocks of different sizes, conveyor belts and suction tunnels mix things up neatly.

Essentially, players set up a level in the hope that the furmins reach the end then hit play and wait to see the results. It's the kind of title that rewards trial and error. I found myself hitting play at the start of each stage just to see the rough pathing of the level. Some of the sequences are pretty convoluted and rely on a series of chain reactions. Other stages require carefully timed taps on bumpers so keeping an eye on progress is vital.

Familiar elements such as candy that can be collected in order to gain stars and unlocking new levels are there. It's an entertaining enough mix despite being a standard example of the genre, although the option of multiple solutions go some way to mix things up. Crucially, it's the hand drawn visuals that stand out the most in this title and that touch of class that they bring to the whole experience.