Absolutely Top-notch Puzzler – Penguin Patrol Free Review

This game has everything I've been looking for in a puzzler: excellent level designs with a lot of variety, great controls and interface, very user-friendly with lots of great menu choices and options, excellent graphical style, and plenty of content. In this game you'll try to collect all the cute penguins by moving along a grid-like path that is arranged as a sort of maze. You can't move over the same spots twice, as each place on the grid appears as an ice tile that sinks after you move across it. As the game progresses, you're introduced to special tile/surface types and different penguins that affect gameplay, like the slippery ice that moves you in a straight line until you hit a wall, or the playful penguins that run away from you in a set direction. At the end of the game there are even sokoban-style puzzles as a bonus, and they are excellent as well. The controls work flawlessly. You simply swipe in the direction you want to move. Holding the swipe has you continuing to move in that direction. It's an intuitive control method that feels just right. The design is accessible, with lots of menu choices, most of the time given right on the screen or one push away, leaving the screen unclutter and yet easy to navigate. You can restart a level or go back to the main menu for the level select screen with ease. You can also rewind, or take back a move instantly to avoid the frustration of starting a level over and over every time you make a little mis-step. This is huge for later levels. Nothing is missed here and the game is a treat to pick-up-and-play. Graphics and visual style are excellent. The game looks a bit like an update of an old 16-bit style pixel puzzler with gorgeously rendered sprites. Of course it is also retina-display enabled, so it's not real pixel-y, which is almost kind of a shame for a lover of all things retro like me, except that with the cuteness of the baby penguins it realy works to have the sharp graphical presentation. All of the gameplay elements are represented perfectly through the visual design--everything makes sense, visually and representationally with how it functions onscreen. It just looks great and seems well thought out. There is a good deal of content here with 78 levels available and objectives to achieve 3 stars on each level. It will take a few hours even for the most skilled puzzle gamers to earn 3 stars on every level. Great value. I love that there is an option to play my own music with the game. This is something that every puzzle game should allow and yet it often goes overlooked. I realize that this looks like just another puzzle game on an app store full of them, but it's really outstanding--potentially the best puzzle game of 2011, in my opinion. An easy 5/5 rating for me.
Review by Apocryphiliac on Penguin Patrol Free.