Developer: Sergey Kalinin
Price: $0.99
Version Reviewed: 1.1
Device Reviewed On: iPhone 4S
Games which revolve around moving tiles in order to reveal a photo or image have been around almost as long as the pyramids, but the challenge has been updating the concept for the 21st century. With iPhones and iPads very much the new medium for casual game playing, it was only a matter of time before the humble tile game found its way to iOS.
Stretch the Puzzle is just that, a re-imagining of the games that have kept children occupied for years. Even a few adults, too. Bringing that concept to the iPhone has seen a couple of changes being implemented, but the end result still retains all the charm of the originals.
Gamers are faced with more than 200 puzzles spanning 10 different themes ranging from cats to butterflies to cityscapes, with the aim of the game being to swap tiles in order to create the finished image. Anyone who has played one of the original tile games will instantly feel at home, with the difficulty options helping to change things up a bit depending on the gamer’s abilities.
There are three difficulty levels to choose from, so players should never find themselves with breezing through levels too easily, or at the other end of the scale, getting stuck too often.
I found myself coming back for more after completing each puzzle, with just enough entertainment on hand to keep me occupied in queues and the like, though I could never see myself sitting and playing for longer than a few minutes at a time. Longevity though, is king.
Gamers can even share their progress on Twitter and Facebook, so all their friends can play along too.
Stretch the Puzzle is a universal app, meaning gamers get both the iPhone/iPod touch release and the iPad version for their dollar, which has to be a bargain in anybody’s book.
With such a low cost of entry, Stretch the Puzzle is a real winner for anyone who remembers the fun that is to be had with a good old fashioned tile puzzle.