Hold on to your ladies! The ever popular formula of a crazed bad guy with a doctorate, making off with the unwitting hero’s girlfriend for strange and unknown reasons once again rears its head in Glowfish HD, but unless you’re a glowing blue blobular creature with cute flappy ears and a pink girlfriend named Coraline, I think you’ll be all right.
Glowfish HD is an adorable adventure game that takes place in a colourful ocean environment filled with all manner of creatures; some merely act as animated scenery whilst others are friends of Glowfish that need to be rescued on his quest to save Coraline from the tentacles of Dr. Urchin, who turns into a bit of a miserable bugger when the local sea life is at peace and generally having a fun, frolicsome time. But we can’t be too angry with the old fellow, because all he wants is some friends and were it not for his sociopathic tendencies, Glowfish would be doing something dull and uninteresting in the comfort of his own home, as opposed to experiencing unknown terror and emotional turmoil for our amusement.
The first great thing to note about Glowfish HD is the controls; you can position them pretty much wherever you want. The joystick can be placed on the bottom left or right, or you can opt for a floating joystick which will pop into being wherever you place your digits. In addition to the map and menu icons, there’s a speed boost icon and two more; chain and orbit, which allow you to have the troop of friends you pick up along the way trail along behind you in a chain, or rearrange themselves in an offensive orbit, whirring wildly around you. The controls are marvelously responsive and the orbit function comes into play as soon as you tap the icon, which means you can attack without having to wait for Glowfish’s friends to hustle and get into formation before you can unleash the power of the orbit on myriad of marine enemies. Or should I say ‘anemones’? Wink, wink. Okay, I won’t.
Each stage is split off into areas, separated by a cute, cartoony-looking house that, once filled with the required number of rescued chums, will cause a sudden abatement in the impenetrable fountain of bubbles jettisoning out of the ground next to it. But don’t be too eager to rush on as there are a wealth of secret areas to explore filled with more friends and shiny, shiny coins! The coins can be used later on when start to acquire your super friends, the glow chums, who assist you during your adventure and have a range of abilities which can be upgraded with aforementioned coinage.
Friends are rescued by swimming past them in close proximity, at which point they will automatically follow you, forming a chain as their numbers swell. You only need the minimum of one friend in order to trigger the orbit attack, but the more friends you have circling you, the bigger the enemy you can take down, provided that they’re not the invincible kind like giant jellyfish, which act more as a tricky obstacle to traverse than an all-powerful nemesis. Enemies that can be ‘turned into friends’ (or ‘killed’ as I prefer to call it) are lurking around waiting to stalk you on sight or float around inconveniently in your path; ether way, it’s best to take them out pronto, as the mobile predators can increase their size by swimming into their evil doppelgangers (and presumably eating them). In true Pacman style, if you’re chasing them down and lose the upper hand, they will turn on you in a second and the hunter will become the hunted. Upon their demise, they turn into friends and coins, so if you find yourself in a sticky situation, head for the smallest, and hence the most vulnerable targets before they get the chance to start morphing.
The speed boost ability is handy for navigating tricky terrain, like chomping jaws of death, but be wary if you have a string of hangers on as they can be shaken free at high speeds. What I found invaluable was the fact that it was only the maneuvering of Glowfish himself that I had to worry about as his friends (as well as the enemies) can’t be hurt by the environment. You can be though, and if you take a hit too many you’ll disperse into an amorphous blue cloud and restart at the nearest checkpoint.
The gameplay is a blast but the graphics are gorgeous; the palette changes over levels and between areas, with a rare subtlety achieved by the muted consistency of the base colours, built on with soft, subdued shades of neon in an environment that fluctuates between light and dark, whilst remaining ever warm and inviting. So it’s no wonder the fish have become so lapse with their security measures; too busy looking at all the pretty colours. MumboJumbo have certainly made a statement with the visual beauty of Glowfish HD as it’s not very often you come across a game this striking on the iOS.
With 50 levels, challenging gameplay and a 4 star ranking objective to each stage for added replay value, Glowfish HD is great value at $4.99/ £2.99. The purdy colours are just the icing on the cake.
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