ThingSOUP is a climber/distance game developed by Sherpa Reynolds. When it first came out, there was a lot of great feedback on the pretty basic game in the Touch Arcade Forums, and since then, Sherpa has released the 1.0.1 update, giving the game more content, and more polish.
In the game, you’ll control the “thing”. A mysterious little creature that has been captured and taken down a large hole while he was out looking for food. Now he must try and make his way back up to the top, or else be trapped in the “soup” forever. To control “thing”, you’ll need to tap on the screen and hold down to stretch out his tongue, which he can attach to the mysterious balls floating in the air, then use them to fling himself up, then tilt your device to move him left and right. The longer his tongue gets before hooking onto an orb, the higher he will fling himself.
There are bits of orange putty throughout the environment, and when you pick up 5 of them, you activate a power up that lets you fly a good distance upward. There are also little orange putty flies that when eaten will let you use your arms to fly up about 3 or 4 times by pressing on the screen. Along the way there are also lizards on the sides of the hole’s wall that stick out their tongues. If you land on them, they give you a big boost upward. But there are also exploding orbs that leave pieces of themselves behind. If you get these pieces on you, it will slow you down, and make it so that you can not fling yourself up as high. Once you get about 3 or 4 of these pieces on you, you’re pretty screwed, especially after about a distance of 10,000, when the orbs are more spread out, and you need bigger flicks to keep progressing.
There are bits of orange putty throughout the environment, and when you pick up 5 of them, you activate a power up that lets you fly a good distance upward. There are also little orange putty flies that when eaten will let you use your arms to fly up about 3 or 4 times by pressing on the screen. Along the way there are also lizards on the sides of the hole’s wall that stick out their tongues. If you land on them, they give you a big boost upward. But there are also exploding orbs that leave pieces of themselves behind. If you get these pieces on you, it will slow you down, and make it so that you can not fling yourself up as high. Once you get about 3 or 4 of these pieces on you, you’re pretty screwed, especially after about a distance of 10,000, when the orbs are more spread out, and you need bigger flicks to keep progressing.
The graphics in thingSOUP are pretty nice. They look more like clay than anything else. You can tell that it’s not made by a big name developer, but it’s got loads of personality. I really like the graphics quite a bit. The animations, as well, don’t look like they’re done by a big name company, but they fit the graphical style. They’re not choppy, or poor in any way, and they do add life to the game, but this whole “armature” style of graphics might turn some people off. It is, however, something I’m pretty drawn to.
The music and effects play a bigger part in the game than you would think. Aside from adding loads of feeling to the atmosphere, they give you hints as to when enemies and helpers are coming up. Listening to the music can help you get further in the game. This addition, and use, of music, is awesome. I really do wish that more developers would do things like this.
GameCenter has also been added, giving players 2 different leader boards, one for Distance, and another for how much Orange Putty you’ve collected. There are also 16 achievements, most of which will give you a decent challenge. This addition of GameCenter has added quite a bit of replay value to the game. ThingSOUP is only $0.99, and has more content coming in future updates. The developer has said that more levels, along with more characters will be coming soon. This addition of new characters and levels will add a lot to the aesthetic, and gameplay, and I’m pretty excited about it. This is definitely one game that has left it’s mark on me, and I can’t wait for more content to be added, and am also very excited to see what Sherpa Reynolds will come up with for future games.
GameCenter has also been added, giving players 2 different leader boards, one for Distance, and another for how much Orange Putty you’ve collected. There are also 16 achievements, most of which will give you a decent challenge. This addition of GameCenter has added quite a bit of replay value to the game. ThingSOUP is only $0.99, and has more content coming in future updates. The developer has said that more levels, along with more characters will be coming soon. This addition of new characters and levels will add a lot to the aesthetic, and gameplay, and I’m pretty excited about it. This is definitely one game that has left it’s mark on me, and I can’t wait for more content to be added, and am also very excited to see what Sherpa Reynolds will come up with for future games.
ThingSOUP is getting a score of 7 out of 10.
Links;
Full Version – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/thingsoup/id444711111?mt=8
Website – http://sherpareynolds.com/
Sherpa Reynolds was also kind enough to give us 4 promo codes to post with this review – so we hope that you guys who do redeem these codes after reading the review enjoy the game!
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