Good premise, shaky controls, awful physics – Compression HD Review

It's a pretty solid premise: a match three game where the play field is squished over time. It creates some cool moments, where pieces separated by a gulf slide together and disappear. The touch controls are reasonably solid when you're not in a panic, but when you need to make a last-second slide, it's often read as a rotation, ruining your final placement. This is even accounting for the totally appreciated sensitivity adjustments. But the physics are what keep this game from being any good at all. They are internally inconsistent and frustratingly unpredictable. The most obvious error: A two-piece block, oriented vertically, in which the bottom block disappears, will cause the remaining block to fall. But the same piece, oriented horizontally, will leave the remaining block hanging in the air. I've also seen falling blocks stop before hitting the bottom. Either have the blocks fall (a la Dr. Mario) or have them hang (a la Tetris). Arbitrarily doing both adds a level of complexity that is unnecessary and confusing. Too bad, because it's a good premise...
Review by Ironmaus on Compression HD.