Spark Control: Kind of Clever but Falling Drastically Short of Expectation

Think of it as sort of a crap physics game you’d expect to find on the 10 year-old PCs in secondary school. Sorry, that sounds harsh even by my usual grouchy persona, but unfortunately there’s no beating about the bush with this one and maybe that’s why it’s free on the app store.

The aim of the game is to get your ball into a cupboard while collecting all the sparks on screen using a variety of tools to bounce, blow and direct your ball home. Sounds simple enough, but actually it isn’t, thanks largely to the fact that the controls feel awkward and the lack of space on screen makes selecting anything a chore. Christ even the help boxes aren’t big enough to actually fit the text without it overlapping!

Worst still, graphically things don’t get much better. The Backgrounds, icons and even something as simple as text looks like it’s been scribbled together in paint and used the leftover Clip Art that Microsoft didn’t want. Granted, it should be all about the gameplay; does it have longevity? Will you come back to it? Sure; but in equal fashion you simply can’t throw a game out there these days where even Mine Sweep looks more sophisticated and expect audiences to just be ok with it.

Granted you have to tip your hat to the develops for at least trying something different in the games department and considering it’s free I’d still implore people to download Spark Control and give it ago (hell it must be someone’s cup of tea). However, TriSail need to learn that no matter how much originality a game might have, it doesn’t always make up for a lack of functionality or style.