Jungle Ruins: Setup your stage so you can launch Timpa around the screen and to freedom!
A nifty and realistic little physics game with great stylisation. We liked what we saw in the free version of the game and think you’d be interested too – check out what else we have to say below.
Gameplay: The story is that Timpa, the monkey, has a map which can lead him to a magical happy jewel. So he travels around the jungle in search of it and your job is to help guide him to the goal in every stage.
More specifically, Timpa goes around in this weird bubble (or transparent ball). He’ll fall from the sky on your command, and when he does he’ll travel around the stage like a marble. The whole game is a side-on cross-section, and you layout a variety of crates, planks and wedges in order to channel the ball around the stage. You can’t spend too much time planning a masterpiece escape though because there’s a countdown timer which will make you start again when it reaches zero. If you’ve setup your pieces correctly then he’ll gather momentum as he rolls around and launch across pits and bounce off spring boards to reach the exit.
Magical parts: Jungle Ruins has a great immersive game experience: the majestic adventure music really gets you in the mood for fun and the cute sound effects match well with the game. It’s quite hard to tell if the bad English in the About page was purposeful or not, but it really does add to the jungle feel of the game!
The controls are simple and intuitive, so you can know how to play very quickly. If languages or learning is an issue for you, there’s no need to worry because the first levels automatically guide you and introduce the game principles.
What really does this for us is the cool physics they’ve applied. Everything seems so logical and correct in the physics movement. It’s quite amazing how the blocks, crates and see-saws fall and move around so realistically. This real life aspect makes it fairly easy for people to understand how to get their banana loving friend to the goal.
Banana Skins: No Move2SDCard, so it’s a large game for those who don’t have the latest devices. Though the controls are clear, it’s very hard to see where you’re placing objects because they’re hidden under your finger. Quite a common issue amongst puzzle games: It’s hard to know what you might do if you’re stuck on a level and you can’t pass it. Let’s face it, if you’ve paid for a puzzle game and you get stuck – what do you do?!
Verdict: 3/5 A beautifully stylised game that’ll keep you occupied for hours. Definitely give the 10 stages in the free version of the game a try… and of course, do buy the game if you really like it (there are 100 levels and it’s cheap right?). Unfortunately, the controls do hamper players quite badly – so much so that I suspect it would be a problem eventually since there’s a time limit on each level. Game file size is 8MB, so it could clog up some phones out there and prevent them from getting other games – it’s fairly disappointing that they have this issue as I know this stopped me from buying the Jungle Ruins.
Jungle Ruins Tips from Android Games Review
- Placing the blocks in the right place is important as this game is fairly accurate and sensitive. So if you’re having any issues, then make your finger more perpendicular to the screen so it’s more like a stylus.
- With realistic Physics games like this, it’s likely that many of the levels would have a single method for solving it. So if the ball path doesn’t seem to be working for you – try a different route instead.
- You don’t need to use all the pieces you’re given, so don’t feel obliged to litter the screen with wood.
- The game is quite flexible, so you can actually place planks and crates under the ball after it’s stopped on a stationary point. That way you can reintroduce movement in the ball even after it’s stopped.
- Don’t be worried about putting blocks down and losing them after you re-click on them – the levels are short so it’s very easy to start from the beginning.
Jungle Ruins QR Code
(Click on the image or scan the barcode with your Android phone to goto the Android Market)
Developers: Haibis
