Finger Physics: Hidden Gem of the Week

Who took physics in high school?  Raise your hand.  Hated it, didn’t you?  Well, game developers have taken the greatest of aspects of the wonderful subject of physics and have applied it  to games and to everyone’s surprise, they are a smash hit.  Finger Physics wants to introduce give your fingers the perfect finger fun complete with maneuvering magnetized blocks, explosive shapes, under water puzzles, low gravity environments, and speedy play levels.  It’s one of those hidden gems that not enough people know about so we’re here to shed a little light on this app and see if it’s worthy of our “Hidden Gem of the Week”.

Gameplay:
Finger Physics has only one mode, but in each of the 9 stages, your goals will be very different from level to level.  Guide the egg into the basket, construct a stable building, or build up to the line are the three types that you will encounter in each stage.

In guiding the egg into the basket, or egg mode, the egg will be perched somewhere around the level.  There are breakable blocks, magnetized blocks, and just regular blocks that can be manipulated.  Breaking the breakable glass blocks in a certain chronological order is essential in getting that golden egg into the basket.

Constructing a stable building is a mode that definitely physic app lovers will be familiar with.  The goal is to use all the different shaped blocks, one at a time, to build a stable construction.  If one or more blocks fall at anytime then you must try again from the beginning.  Once you’ve put every block in place, the 5 second timer starts and the construction must hold for those 5 seconds.  If the pieces are falling, you can move your finger to reconstruct your blocks if you like and the timer will simply restart whenever you place them in a stable position and your finger is no longer touching a block.

Building up to the line is exactly like the popular app Topple, where you are given blocks in a variety of shapes and sizes and you must stack them on top of each other to reach the designated goal line and your blocks must stay there at the line for 5 seconds.  This was my favorite mode because the game throws all kinds of different elements at you when as you progress.  There’s underwater mode where some blocks sink to the bottom of the screen and some float, which really plays games on your brain.

The game scores you on your diligence and speed in completing the task.  There’s the bronze, silver and gold star and the disparity and difficulty between the rewards is very well balanced.  Along with the stars are the achievements that are kept track via OpenFeint which I found was the cherry on top of a solid physics app.

Controls:
Your fingers will have a blast with this one with little to no hassle.  Whether your breaking glass to guide the egg into the designated area, or stacking blocks to reach the limit, the controls are very smooth and work great.  I experience no issues in every level of physics.  Although it would’ve been nice to have dual touch, being able to hold one block with one finger and drag a second block with another finger.

What We Liked:
+ Amazing graphics  + Incredible presentation and execution of physics  + OpenFeint enabled  + iPod music friendly  + Three variation of physics in one (Guide the egg into the basket, construct a stable building, and build up to the line)  + Different gravity environments (underwater)  + Variety of block types (Magnetized, explosive etc.)  + Great sound effects  + Achievements and awards  + Controls are responsive in every type of level  + Unlockable “Free mode”

What We Disliked:

- Painfully long bootup time  – Could use more levels  – Not a huge fan of the soundtrack  – Occasional imbalanced difficulty for certain stages

Final Verdict:
Finger Physics is one of those games that flies under the radar and not many people know about this excellent physics app.  What’s fantastic about this game is that it has 3 different variations of a physic app all combined into one.  In other terms, it’s combining “Topple” with “Touch Physics” without all the drawing all in one addicting, entertaining and visually stunning app.  All that for a dollar?  C’mon now.  They have a Lite version of this game so definitely check it out.  You owe it to your fingers, I mean, they want to have fun too.  Fingers and gentlemen, say hello to your “Hidden Gem of the Week”.

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Tags: Physics, Review

Category: Editors Choice Awards, Games