YouTube link for mobile viewing
Imagine this with me, if you will: Blocks are raining from the sky. Strange hieroglyphs are scribbled upon them, and with each hieroglyph, a color. They continue to stack and higher and higher, until suddenly, an epiphany! If I move the same blocks together in groups of three, they vanish! With this new knowledge in hand, you get to work, saving the world from a block-ridden mess.
If that sounds even remotely familiar, it's because a number of games have that exact premise. In Zookeeper DX Touch Edition, the hieroglyphs are funny looking animal sprites, but the color-specific point is still dead-on. Still, just because this kind of game has been done before doesn't mean it's not fun, so let's take a look at exactly what makes Zookeeper DX Touch Edition worth your time (and money).
For starters, the graphics look great. Sure, you don't need to have stellar graphics for one of those block-swapping games, but Zookeeper DX still doesn't disappoint. Colors and contrast jump off of the screen at you, and there's almost so much visual stimulation taking place (especially on a tablet) that you won't even want to drag your finger across the screen. Then again, that might be the most evil ploy to keep you from focusing on the task at hand.
The music has a catchy, techno pop groove to it, and it definitely exemplifies the playfulness that Zookeeper DX is going for. An angry and tyrannical zoo owner sends his lowly zookeeper to save the day? It's as goofy as it sounds, and the music definitely sets that up.
I'd be remiss if I didn't actually talk about the sprites and gameplay, too. The sprites are hilarious. To advance from level-to-level, you've got to capture (or is it release?) a certain number of every animal, and if you're slacking on a particular type, they scowl at you. Why is an angry, stereotypical animal sprite so endearing? I have no idea, but it works. Make sure you don't forget that each set of blocks you remove gives you a bit of time back on your bar, too. It's just that much more incentive to actually meet the game's objectives! Brilliant.
Zookeeper DX Touch Edition is 99 cents in the Google Play Store. We've got download links after the break.
