The Splatters

Game Info

The Splatters is a physics-based puzzle game where you strategically shoot bright coloured blobs of goo across the screen in order to get rid of bombs spread across the level. Kind of like flicking luminous boogers across the room without having your significant other catching you in the act.

The concept might sound very generic at first and many will be concerned that this is just another Angry Birds or Worms clone. We have seen plenty of those. It comes as a pleasant surprise that this isn’t the case and that The Splatters holds its own as a fun-filled, pick up and play arcade puzzler.

As you progress you unlock various abilities which help you complete each level. These abilities assist you in building up combos which make all the difference between simply completing a level or achieving a 3 star rank.  These tally up as stunts, which you must pull off continually to build up a combo and achieve higher scores. Once a level has been completed your skills are showcased on the international leaderboards. If you are good enough a video of your high scoring strategy will be uploaded where other players can marvel at you pulling off massive combos. This feature also helps you to get hints from other players when trying to achieve that definitive high score.

As can be expected the game does suffer from a few setbacks. The games physics are so unique that when you try the ‘exact’ same strategy twice you end up with varied results, making thing all too frustrating when a level seems rather elementary. You could find yourself repeatedly restarting levels thinking that a proven method is bound to eventually work again. The level designs also become repetitive besides the location of your starting points. This unfortunately makes the game tiresome when playing for prolonged intervals.

The gameplay modes are split into three different categories; ‘Become a Talent’, ‘Combo Nation’, and ‘Master Shot’. Become a Talent is essentially a tutorial where you learn the various abilities and combo tactics to be used in the other game modes. Combo Nation, as per its name, is a fast-paced variation aimed at racking up combos and in turn high scores. This leaves Master Shot which is arguably the game mode with the most substance. Here you will have to focus on strategy  and performing tricks to eliminate bombs. This particular mode is highly addictive but at the same time equally frustrating. You’ve been warned.

The Splatters is a unique concept and a welcome change to other popular puzzlers inhabiting the marketplace. At most it serves as decent distraction for a few hours, the 800 M$ Point price tag seems a little steep for what you are getting. Besides the Master Shots mode the rest of the game seems artificially drawn out and has a lack of variety and generally straightforward gameplay. Had The Splatters been a bit cheaper or a mobile game it might just have been worthwhile, regrettably it falls short of its gooey glory as a downloadable console puzzler.