I am a sucker for games that are both simple and elegant. Most of the time when I am playing a game, I want something that is easy to pick up, hard to put down, and either requires a lot of thought or none at all. And, since my mother is an art teacher, I tend to gravitate towards games that are just plain pretty. Polyforge meets all of those requirements and then some.
This extremely simple game is a tap-to-play game, which is normally not really my cup of tea. But, something about the friendly color palettes, the beautifully-rendered shapes, the relaxing music, and surprisingly forgiving gameplay make this game a real winner in my mind. In fact, I downloaded it and probably sat for at least an hour tapping away without realizing it.
The object of the game is to ‘forge’ new shapes by striking all of the sides and lighting them up. If you hit the same side twice, you have to start that level over. Some of the levels are extremely challenging and feature multiple objects which rotate, as does your cursor. The gameplay is pretty simple but requires quite a bit of timing. All in all, if you’re looking for a good, relaxing game to waste a bit of time, then Polyforge is a great option. I also highly recommend playing with headphones as it really enhances the experience, and the music is quite lovely.
The app isn’t too big and has very few permissions, although I did deny it access to making phone calls and accessing my photos, media, and files. So far, I haven’t seen any issues with denying the app this information (my game still saves just fine) so if you have an older device that doesn’t allow selectively approving access, make sure you read the permissions carefully.
So far, the only downside I can find is that it did make my device a little warm in the hour or so that I played. Of course, the device I was using has a water-damaged screen, so it does react a little differently to heat than others… but it’s still something to be aware of. The heat wasn’t unbearable—I could still hold the device just fine and everything.
Polyforge was created by ImpactBlue Studios, and can be downloaded for Android or iPhone for free. There are ads between some of the levels, and the game gives the option to watch ads in order to continue the game, but I didn’t find them all that obtrusive. Still, if you wanted to support the developers (something I advocate for good games) then you can pay a mere $0.99 to have the ads removed.]]>
Posted in Mobile Apps