Drop Zone Elite Review

Long ago people figured out that the Accelerometer could be used to roll a ball around on the iPhone. It’s been the source of many games and will continue to be the way of things in the App Store. But to stand out you have to either do the most amazing ball rolling ever or you have to come out with something different.

All right, ball rolling is ball rolling so you’re not going to be able to that much better, so now it’s just about making things different to stand out. That’s the job that Gambatte took on when they went to work on Drop Zone Elite. Sure it’s ball rolling, but with this game you’re not trying to get your ball toward a hole, you’re trying to keep it away from a hole, or more specifically a vortex.

The game is all about tilting the device around to help a ball roll towards flags that randomly appear on the playing surface. You must hit the required number of flags to move on to the next level. Making things a little harder for you is a swirling Vortex that can eat up the flags before you get to them, or, even worse, eat up your ball. You’ve only got so many of these balls so once you lose them all, the game is over for you. Yes, it takes balls to play this game.

Along the way the game drops down some power ups (and some power downs) to make things more interesting. Some of the good things are a slower Vortex, a Bigger Ball, A Flag Storm (that drops a lot of flags on the board). While some of the bad include getting a huge Vortex flinging around the playfield.

The thing that really has to work for a game like this is the control. Gambatte does a really good job on this front. The rolling action feels just as it should and you’ll have no trouble getting the marble where you want it. Too bad you can’t move the Vortex away.

Graphically the game is pretty simplistic. There are a few different ball and background choices (I like the Earth rolling through the galaxy version) but it’s still nothing too wild. The game doesn’t quite have the 3D look that would really help this game, but still it didn’t bother me too much. The game is only a dollar and you can’t really expect too much for that.

I was a little surprised that there was now music during the game play. You’ve got some basic sound effects, but that’s about it. Again, while I bring it up, it really didn’t make me like the game any less. I was just a little surprised that it wasn’t there.

Where I think the game did fall short in a ‘bothersome” way is that it didn’t change things up enough as the play continued. Here are some ways that the game could change up and it would really make this a fun game…

First of all, the game always takes place on a rectangle playfield. It would have been nice to see that change up a little. There could have been different layouts for the board. Including having part of it off the screen. It would be cool to not know where the Vortex or the flags are at all times. I’d also like to have seen some levels to the board. It would be cool to have it so that flags are up on some levels, forcing you to pick up some speed to reach. Or even just some mounds that will make it hard to roll the ball around.

To me, these seem like some fairly logical additions to the game. Here’s hoping that they make their way to us in some updates. At the very least add some more things to the playfield so that it’s not just the same rectangle box every time.

There is a Lite version for you to go and try out, so I recommend that for everyone.

Drop Zone deserves some kudos for doing something a little different with the “marble roll” genre. It’s a fun game that provides some nice challenge and it’s worth the buck you’ll spend on it. A few more updates could make this a really exciting game.

The Good

Good Control Scheme
Good Marble Physics

The Bad

Could Use Some More Playfields
Needs Music
Needs Global Scoreboard

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Tags: Drop ZOne Elite Iphone, DropZone iPhone

Category: Games