Squidge Rush, the new iPhone/iPad game from RX Games, combines classic tower defence strategy with an addictive puzzle component that will keep both your mind and your fingers constantly active. Enter the Squidge World where you take control of an array of cute characters and lead them to victory over the forces of evil who are out to control the elements.
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| Evil tree things must die! |
Using Aquor and his friends, you must defend your base from a constant onslaught of evil Squidges who attack down the screen in five lanes. Repel them by placing your own Squidges in the appropriate lanes but be careful to put the right Squidge in the right lane. Basic Squidges will defeat other basic Squidges but a Knight Squidge will prove too much for a basic Squidge. Likewise, the King Squidge can take down both a basic Squidge and Knight Squidge before it dies. Any of your Squidges who survive will travel up the screen to be used in the final battle.
But the challenge of this game isn’t in the speed with which you defend yourself; in fact, it pays to be a little more measured in your approach. The reason for this becomes apparent after you successfully manage to defend your base and send eight of your troops across the bridge to battle each level’s boss. You’ll have to line up five of your troops against five of his troops and the same rules apply in determining the victor as during your base defence.
If all you’ve managed to send across are basic Squidges then you aren’t going to do any damage to the boss because his basic Squidges will cancel yours out. So a tactical approach to which Squidges you send into battle makes clearing the level much easier; attacking the final boss with stronger Squidges increases your chances of doing more damage and potentially killing the boss in one encounter. If not, you do as much damage as you can and then go through the process of defending your base and sending Squidges across the bridge once again.
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| Cute… but weird |
The game expands in a number of ways as the player progresses, with new characters being unlocked and new Squidges being created via “Fusion Spells”. You can replay any stage you’ve already completed using a new character you may have found and you can also challenge yourself by trying to kill off the bosses with less encounters. The stages get progressively more difficult, becoming faster and making it harder to strike a balance between getting through the stage quickly (the boss may have potentially weaker troops) and sending your best Squidges into battle. You only have a maximum of eight Squidges to work with at any one time and you won’t get a fresh batch of troops until you’ve sent four out into battle, making choosing which Squidges you keep and which you deploy even more difficult.
Boasting over 30 stages and nine characters, each unique in their abilities, Squidge Rush is an attractive looking, well packaged and addictive game that will challenge even hardened puzzlers and strategists while being accessible to someone who may never have experienced the genre before.
– Dom S
Interested in Squidge Rush? Get it here: http://itunes.apple.
