The makers of the highly addicting Cut the Rope game have released a new puzzle adventure called Pudding Monsters. Just as cute and just as addicting as Cut the Rope, Pudding Monsters is destined to also be a huge hit. The goal is to help the adorable little Pudding Monsters (I think they look more like Jell-O) save their friends from the cold-hearted fridge owner by getting them to stick together.
There are currently 3 different episodes: Fridge Escape, Room Invaders, and The Neighborhood in Pudding Monsters, each of which features 25 levels. The 25th level of each episode is extra difficult and hidden until you complete the game.
To complete a level, you must move the Pudding Monsters around so that they all end up sticking together. It's not that easy, though. Once you flick a monster in a direction, it will continue in that direction until it hits something. If a monster goes flying off the screen, you lose. There are various objects in each level that can work as barriers for the monsters, and colliding two monsters together will also cause the moving one to stop and stick to the monster it makes contact with. There are three tiles in each level that have a star. To collect these stars, the tiles must be covered the moment all the Pudding Monsters get stuck together.
Not all monsters are created equal in Pudding Monsters. Some monsters need to be awaken, others make a trail of sticky goo, and others move together as a team. There are also different types of obstacles and items in the game that dramatically have an impact on your gameplay. For example, ice blocks can only be collided with once before breaking, and passing though the tiles that look like tunnels will cause your monster to reproduce. Between all the different types of monsters and game elements, it doesn't take much for Pudding Monsters to become a challenge.
If you get stuck on a level, you can tap the mushroom in the lower lefthand corner to cheat skip the level. It will keep reproducing monsters until you have enough to get you all three stars. Pudding Monsters comes with just one mushroom boost, so if you want more, you'll have to buy them as in-app purchases.
In addition to striving for three stars in each level, you can also aim to complete the 20 achievements in Game Center.
Pudding Monsters is available for the iPhone and iPad as separate apps. Unfortunately, game progress does not sync between devices, so if you have both an iPhone and iPad, you may want to put some thought into which devices you'd prefer to play Pudding Monsters on. For what it's worth, between the Retina iPad, iPad mini, and iPhone 5, my device of choice for Pudding Monsters is the iPad mini.
It really is a shame that it is so difficult for developers to keep game progress in sync between devices. From what I understand, iCloud hasn't quite reached the point where developers can reliably make this happen unless they invest in their own sync service. If anyone has any more insight into this, I'd love to hear it. Because in this day an age, I think it's rather ridiculous that it's not the norm for games like Pudding Monsters, Cut the Rope, and Angry Birds to have automatic syncing between devices.
The good
- 75 levels with more to come!
- Innovative stick-‘em-together game-play mechanics
- Unique monster shapes, wacky personalities and attributes
- Fun, mind-bending experience suitable for all ages
- Highly addicting
- A true puzzle game that requires thinking and planning
The bad
- No sync between iPhone and iPad
The conclusion
Pudding Monsters is an incredibly fun and addicting productivity-killer that every iPhone and iPad owner should have. I really love how Pudding Monster is more of a puzzle than Cut the Rope and requires you to put serious thought and planning into your moves in order to achieve all three stars. Not only is it a fun game, but Pudding Monsters is great for your brain, too!
Seriously, this game rocks and I didn't put it down until I completed all 75 levels with three stars each. Go get it. Now!
- $0.99 for iPhone - Download now
- $0.99 for iPad - Download now
