Tumblestone Review

Tumblestone

Release: August 30, 2016
Publisher: The Quantum Astrophysicists Guild - Nighthawk Interactive
Developer: Ty Taylor and Mario Castaneda
Genre: Adventure, Other
PEGI: E
Comments:

 

Comment

Sometimes, a puzzle game will come along that you’ll just love and keep playing forever. Other times, you’ll play a puzzle game once or twice and move on. Tumblestone is the newest puzzle game to come to the Wii U eshop. Is it a game I’ll play forever or is it a game that I’ll soon forget?

Most of the time, puzzle games don’t have a story mode and when they do, the story is usually uninteresting. Tumblestone is a puzzle game with a story and while the story won’t win any awards, I do think it’s a fun and quirky addition to the title. The story doesn’t get in the way of the puzzle gameplay and it actually makes the story mode a bit more fun. I like the static cut scenes and all. Of course, the most important aspect of Tumblestone is its gameplay and I’m happy to report that the gameplay is great!

Tumblestone is my new favorite puzzle game. Not only does it have an neat story mode (as noted above), but it has an Arcade mode, local and online multiplayer, and an online leaders board. I tried out the Arcade modes and liked them a bunch, especially the Marathon mode! Though, it is the game’s local and online play that might be its best extra feature.

I played a couple of matches of the local multiplayer and enjoyed it a lot. Tumblestone’s multiplayer is very fast paced, but you still need to think about strategy! Of course, if you play the game online with more than two players, the game gets even more intense. My experience with the online wasn’t completely perfect (I did get booted once), but overall, I really enjoyed it and can’t wait to play the game online again. This fast paced puzzle action game is just a blast no matter how you play it.

Tumblestone is almost everything you could want from a Wii U puzzle game. It has great gameplay, off-tv play, online, local and it’s a lot fun and very challenging at times. Even so, there are a couple of things about the game that I wish were better.

When you first start Tumblestone, the game doesn’t give you much of a tutorial. It does tell you what to do, but since the game is so complex and challenging at times, you may struggle with the gameplay at first. I wish this game had a good tutorial. I also wish the game made more use of the Wii U’s specific features. Other than Off-TV play, Tumblestone doesn’t make much use of the gamepad. There is no touch screen support here or unique second screen experience. That said, the game does have excellent controls.

Tumblestone’s controls were never an issue for me. The controls are pretty simple in fact and that’s exactly what you need with a puzzle game. The controls of a puzzle game shouldn’t be so complex that they take too much time to learn! Thankfully, the learning curve on Tumblestone’s controls are not steep and I suppose thats why there isn’t a good tutorial. You might struggle at first with the gameplay, but the simple controls are learned quickly enough. That’s not to say that this game isn’t challenging. As I mentioned before, Tumblestone can be a challenge. There is a lot to this game. Tumblestone has so many modes and so many different challenges that it’ll be a long time before you’re bored of it. Helping to fight the boredom that you might find in other puzzle games is Tumblestone’s excellent graphics.

Tumblestone has really nice, colorful graphics. The world map and each of the tumblestone puzzles look great. The static cut scenes have a very good look to them too.

I also think that Tumblestone has a good soundtrack, with music thats very nice and doesn’t over power the sound effects. Speaking of the sound effects, I think they are pretty good. The sound effects don’t get in the way of the soundtrack and visa versa. Tumblestone is a fun game to listen to. Tumblestone is just a fun game overall.

If you love puzzle games, then you should definitely download Tumblestone right away. This game has a ton of content, excellent graphics, great gameplay, a good soundtrack, and off-tv play. I do wish it had a better tutorial when you started and that it used more of the Wii U’s features, but other then that, the game is extremely well done. Get ready for your newest puzzle game addiction. Tumblestone is well worth the download. I know I’ll be playing the game for a long time to come!

Thank you to Ty Taylor for providing a review copy of this game. Tumblestone is now available on the Wii U eshop!

Positives

• Great gameplay
• Fun multiplayer
• Excellent graphics
• Good soundtrack
• Lots of content
• Off-TV Play

Negatives

• Tutorial Could Be Better
• Not Many Wii U Specific Features