Tiki Towers 2 Review

There are a wealth of physics based puzzle games all vying for your hard earned dollars. I should know, I soak up as many of them as possible. It's nice to play something more cerebral than fast paced and I enjoy seeing the similarities across the field.

Tiki Towers 2 follows the familiar path of cutesy and charming, yet sometimes fiendishly challenging. Understandable really considering the original did a similar thing on the iPhone and the Nintendo Wii. Think of it as a monkey based World of Goo clone. I say clone, I mean this in the good way. Instead of helping out globs of goo, you must direct a troupe of monkeys across each level to the exit, while trying to collect bananas along the way.

To do this, you have to build bridges and towers out of bamboo sticks in order for the monkeys to climb across them. You only have a set amount of sticks for each level so it's down to you to figure out the best path in order to progress. It's not essential to collect all the bananas along the way but obviously it's a wise idea if you want to truly complete the game rather than just finish each level.

With 30 levels in all, there's a fair amount to play through as well as plenty of challenges. Early stages are fairly obvious to complete, although a bit more thought is required in order to collect all the available bananas. Later stages however invoke hazards such as water and lava to make the ever happy monkeys' journey increasingly dangerous. Fortunately, new tools come along at opportune moments to help you out as well as adding a bit of creativity to proceedings. Refreshingly, it's not an entirely linear level progression either with multiple exits available to give you a few options as you tackle each level. More importantly, it's very enjoyable and the ideal game to jump into for bitesized doses or longer. Controls are easy to get to grips with although Tiki Towers 2 does feel a little more suited to the big screen of the iPad as some zooming around and manoeuvring is needed for the iPhone version. It doesn't detract from the experience though.

Tiki Towers 2 is the full package for the physics puzzle fan. It's charming to look at and offers an enjoyable challenge while mixing it up every now and then to ensure that the game always feels fresh. Sure it might be liberally borrowing some World of Goo elements but it's borrowing from one of the greats which is no bad thing at all. Miss it at your peril.