SOS Penguin! Review

SOS Penguin! is a another app from Stefan Mensen's collection, and is a great puzzler game to wrap your head around.

The idea behind the app is very simple. There are 48 penguins balanced on blocks on top of ice and you have a set number of moves to get the penguin onto the target at the bottom. To make it a little harder, the sea's tide also rocks the ice platform, making it harder to stop the poor birds from falling into the water.

As there are 48 penguins to save, there are 48 different puzzles to solve and they get tricky fast, so you don't have to worry about finishing the game quickly. There are two options for playing through the levels: Campaign, where you go through the levels one after the other and Level Select, which is good if you want to practice a particular level. The penguins are also very cute, so you will definitely want to keep playing in order save them!

Other than cute penguins and all the levels, the graphics are bright and the instructions are clear, not that the game is difficult to use. SOS Penguin! is accessible to any level of gamer. The sound effects for the penguins are also quite sweet, especially if you lose.

However, the graphics could do with a little bit of tightening up, as some of it is just a little too basic, like the waves and 3D objects. The main menu could also do with a slight re-design, as the different options all seem pushed into one corner rather than making use of the whole screen.

The background music can also get a little annoying if you play for a long time. Although despite this, you will still find yourself playing over and over again, as some levels seem to let you get frustratingly close to winning before the penguin topples overboard. Therefore you get massive satisfaction from the app when you succeed and move onto the next puzzle.

Overall, SOS Penguins will have you hooked from the start, trying to save 48 penguins from certain death. Even though the look of the app could do with a bit of tweaking, don't let that put you off. For $1.99 you will definitely get some good gameplay from it, leaving you trying to work the blocks out for days.