Game Reviews

Expand it!

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iOS
| Expand it!
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Expand it!
|
iOS
| Expand it!

It's difficult to put your own stamp on a cartoony physics-based puzzler. There are so many in the App Store that making yours stand out is the difference between make or break.

Expand it! just about manages to poke its head above the rank and file. Its charming creatures are just different enough, and its unique take on destruction is just novel enough, to make it feel fresh and exciting.

Tower of dinosaurs

The premise is a simple one. Each level has a number of squat, geometrically shaped dinosaurs and a glittering ribbon of rainbow. You need to get at least one of the dinosaurs above the level of the rainbow to progress.

To do this, you tap on the creatures to increase their size. To start with all you're doing is making sure the pile of dinosaurs doesn't topple over, but as the game progresses you'll have all manner of other obstacles to contend with.

Spikes will burst your dinosaurs as they expand, spinning lumps of wood will catapult them away, and moveable platforms will wobble and fall as you change the weight of your various creatures.

Things never get too taxing, but there are generally plenty of frantic corrections in the later levels.

Growing pains

There are 60 stages in total, spread across four zones, with more to come later. Each of them has the now obligatory three-star rating, which keeps a close eye on the time you take to get above the rainbow line.

While the various challenges are fun, the game never quite sparks into life. It's entertaining enough, but if you get stuck on a level there's no real compulsion to keep trying, and the identikit art style does little to help.

Expand it! has an identity of its own, but it doesn't do enough to develop it, and while there are some stand out moments its level design lapses into repetition all too often. You'll have a blast while you're playing it, but once you've completed the levels on offer you're not going to be clamouring for more of the same.

Expand it!

It has a few nice ideas, but Expand it! is too happy to rest on its laurels rather than push on to greatness
Score
Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.