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Spaghetti Marshmallows review
by knowyourmobile | Oct 27, 2010 | Reviews
by knowyourmobile
Spaghetti Marshmallows is one of those zany off-the-wall concepts which makes you wonder just what game developers are ingesting during their brain-storming sessions, but it's also complete and utter genius the same time.
The aim is simple – you have to reach a floating circle on the screen by building structures made out of nothing but uncooked spaghetti and marshmallows. Deploying your foodstuff foundations is easy; you simply tap on the screen to drop a plump marshmallow in place.
Once this is done you can skewer it with a stick of spaghetti by tapping the marshmallow and drawing a line in the general direction you want the stick to appear. Once the spaghetti is in situ you can add additional marshmallows to it by tapping at various points along its length.
With this incredibly simple premise, a highly addicting monster is born. Reaching the circle on some of the later levels requires you to build incredibly complicated structures that boast not only height but stability.
Just like in real life, a tower of marshmallows and spaghetti is as flimsy as you would expect. Therefore, you need to create formations which don't wobble too much (marshmallows can be added as counterweights, for example) and is rigid enough to reach high into the sky.
The physics engine used in the game is incredibly realistic, and your spaghetti will bend (and sometimes break) if you pile too many marshmallows on it. Things are complicated further by the fact that many levels have multiple circles, and you must successfully place a marshmallow in each one.
When you consider that you only have a limited number of spaghetti and marshmallows to use, you can appreciate just how maddening this game can get. But that's the beauty of it; the challenge of erecting a sturdy structure is immense, and even when your best-laid plans fall to pieces thanks to one errant marshmallow drop, you can't help but try again.
The fun doesn't end when you complete a level, however. To show off the advanced physics – and to satisfy your destructive tendencies – the developer has included a rampage mode, where you can rain down solid bricks onto your construction and watch it crumble in a shower of snapped spaghetti and despoiled marshmallow.
Spaghetti Marshmallows isn't an entirely original concept – if you've played World of Goo on the PC then you'll be familiar with the challenge that lies ahead – but it's certainly one of the most intriguing games we've played on Android. What's more, the presentation is brilliant; it's understated but has a real polish to it, and this effortlessly separates it from some of the more amateurish efforts currently available on the Android Market.
Once you've completed all of the levels (and that will take some time) then it could be argued that Spaghetti Marshmallows becomes redundant, but the physics-based gameplay never really grows old, and there's a real sense of fun in building intricate structures.
Spaghetti Marshmallows is one of the most perfectly formed puzzle titles we've experienced on Android, and makes superlative use of the touch screen controls. Its gameplay is both enjoyable and cerebrally challenging, and will keep you glued to your phone for many weeks to come.