For those interested: King Oddball, Crimsonland, and this game's award winning predecessor Sparkle round out the group. You will be able to find the game is currently available on a variety of platforms in addition to the Vita such as iOS, Android, the PlayStation 3, and to finish it all up the PlayStation 4. Sparkle 2 is even attempting to get through the Steam Greenlight process as I type this and you are reading it.
Depending on the platform you select it for, Sparkle 2 will run you anywhere from $0.99 (iOS) to $7.99 (PS4, Vita). The PlayStation 4 and Vita versions feature the delightful cross-buy moniker, so if you buy it on one you'll be entitled to the download on the other as well. From now (December 10th) until Tuesday you can pick up Sparkle 2 for $3.99 as a PlayStation Plus member or $4.79 as a plebeian.
As you likely figured out from the banner placed above our heads, Sparkle 2 is much like the Zuma (or Luxor) series of games from past years. When it comes to situations like these for any game the most often levied claim is that a game is merely a clone, but I don't quite believe that to be the case here. To be fair, It had been years prior to my starting the review of this game that I played any Zuma game, so to confirm my suspicion I went online to PopCap Games's website and started trying out their online demo of Zuma's Revenge, their latest game from 2009, to gauge just how closely related these games were in gameplay and and other aspects. As well as this, I consulted Wikipedia for additional information on what the Zuma series had to offer.
Without a doubt there are some marked similarities. The games both fit under the marble shooting game category after all, but once I delved in deeper the differences start to show themselves to be more apparent.
One of the things Sparkle 2 does to set itself apart is its tracking of roughly every statistic involving the game you can imagine. This will include not only the typical lines such as your time playing the title, it'll also include information involving such things as your powerups. As I look now I see it showing me how many have appeared thus far in the game for me, how many of those that appeared I collected, and it provides breakdowns of each individual powerup's appearance total. I've received the Frost Ray the most for those curious. Once activated it will take out a large swathe of orbs through all of their winding lines.
Apart from tracking statistics, the game will also allow you to engage in slightly more game modes than Zuma's Revenge, winning the battle 5 to 4. Although, that isn't necessarily fair to Zuma as 3 of Sparkle 2's game modes are merely difficulty variations, so if one wished to condense that into 1 category then we'd be tied at three apiece (Zuma's Revenge has two difficulty variations itself.).
Sparkle 2's Modes:
- Story x3 - Three levels of difficulty.
- Survival Mode - Survive as long as you can! In each level strive to last long enough to at least earn 5 stars in it.
- Challenge Mode - Complete a board three times, each time providing you with a different difficulty level not necessarily pulled from the game's standard options for Story Mode.
Zuma's Revenge Modes:
- Story Mode x2 - Two levels of difficulty.
- Iron Frog Mode - Survive 10 levels with a single life.
- Challenge Mode - Score as many points as you can in three minutes.
Sparkle 2 focuses wholly on your completion of a level. There are no scores to be racked up while playing, unlike Zuma's Revenge which not only incorporates it into every level has a mode specifically intended for you to rack them up as best you can.
There are other differences, but I would think we've separated the two games well enough to assuage any fears that this is a cheap cash-in on a similar and more popular game.
Sparkle 2 has very little story to speak of. Given my experience so far you could probably play through the entire game and forget there even was a story being told.The plot of the game is that you are searching for 5 enchanted keys to unlock a hidden secret. After you clear X amount of missions you'll be taken to a remarkably well designed page that looks as if it should be your Vita's background which may or may not give you one of these keys. Each trip to the page features a narrator speaking about your character a bit and at the end announces if you found a key or not. Once you leave the area the narrator will return for one additional line at the main map.
I can't tell you if this becomes much more expanded on or not at the end as I haven't quite gotten there myself just yet. I've cleared the first three areas, netting two keys, and I'm almost up to my 4th area in just a few more missions. According to the handy dandy statistics chart I'm a shade under 50% completion.
Now, onto the good stuff!
Sparkle 2 has very little story to speak of. Given my experience so far you could probably play through the entire game and forget there even was a story being told.The plot of the game is that you are searching for 5 enchanted keys to unlock a hidden secret. After you clear X amount of missions you'll be taken to a remarkably well designed page that looks as if it should be your Vita's background which may or may not give you one of these keys. Each trip to the page features a narrator speaking about your character a bit and at the end announces if you found a key or not. Once you leave the area the narrator will return for one additional line at the main map.
I can't tell you if this becomes much more expanded on or not at the end as I haven't quite gotten there myself just yet. I've cleared the first three areas, netting two keys, and I'm almost up to my 4th area in just a few more missions. According to the handy dandy statistics chart I'm a shade under 50% completion.
The difficulty of the game certainly becomes quite a bit more noticeable as you progress. I steamrolled through the first two areas barely breaking a sweat, but in both the 3rd and 4th areas I have lost a round at least once. I would expect that trend to continue as I go towards completion.
Winning those I lost seems to have been only a matter of changing my strategy. By the end of the game, you are allowed to take four of 16 enchantments with you onto a level. The number of enchantment at your disposal you have obviously being relevant to how many you've unlocked. I'm currently at 9 unlocked, giving me two full enchantment options and 1/4 of the third. At this point it the game one needs to clear five levels to unlock the next enchantment. After each completion you'll see on the post-game screen a graphic showing you your progress.
Some enchantments will periodically add to your slinger a special orb. The enchantment I'm currently using is the Purple Fire enchantment. This entitles me to once in every 20 generated orbs to receive this special orb. The Purple Fire orb will knock out a wide circle of orbs where you send it, giving you a great chance to catch up, get ahead, or ensure the status quo is maintained at the least.
You'll also be allowed to select an enchantment that will cycle through the orbs from front to back, which may be the key to earning something like the combo chain of 24 which unlocks a trophy. Currently you can only swap between the first and second orb without the enchantment. Arming the enchantment will allow you to send the first orb to the back, bringing the second to the front, and sending the second to the back.
Something helpful I stumbled upon while playing is that if you want to have some extra control over where your orb will soar to, you can hold down on the touch screen and a directional assist will come up and move with your finger as you aim. Merely release your finger from the touch screen when you wish to and the action will be performed. I find it easier to just eyeball it without the directional assistant, but I'm sure some of you may find it handy in a situation or two.
As I mentioned earlier, Sparkle 2 has 5 game modes for you to peruse.
To refresh your memory, there are three various difficulties alongside challenge and survival modes.
According to the game's website there are nearly 100 levels to be battled through to come to the end in Story Mode. Playing each difficulty, Normal/Hard/Nightmarish, will net you a trophy up to a Gold Trophy, this in particular being the reward for the Nightmarish difficulty conquest of course. I'm fully confident in my inability to ever get that trophy!
Survival Mode has 32 stages for you to work on, earning 5 stars in each and lasting as long as you can. This section is where I'm most disappointed by the game and where I'l knock it the hardest. I see no reason to have a survival mode in this fashion where you can continue to play on past earning 5 stars, but having not even a little notification at the end telling you how long you lasted. I'd have been elated to see a personal leaderboard to track your time on and that's exactly what I anticipated seeing at the end, something like the top 10 scores for the board.
I can accept that they didn't want to do something like that, it could be too much work or whatever, but I don't feel that in deciding to leave it out they implemented what they did to the best of their abilities. I'd have been much more keen on seeing that the stars were spread out further apart and once you got the 5 it was over and you're sent to the mode's menu to carry on. It's still a survival mode, but it cuts out the unnecessary extension with no reward we currently have.
In addition to not having any reason to do anything after the 5 stars are achieved aside from letting the game end as quickly as possible, I have no motivation to replay the levels as I don't want to be tracking my own times with a stopwatch and a notepad.
Challenge Mode has 30 levels to its credit, each needing you to complete it 3 times. There's really nothing special about the mode to make any note of, its just replaying boards at random difficulties which isn't necessarily bad, but isn't very exciting.
If you're a trophy hunter I'd expect this game to be one you should be interested in. Through this point in the game I have over half the trophies without trying to get even one. I'm sure something like clearing the game on Nightmarish will be no fun task, but it'll be just about the only trophy you need to worry about in getting this game 100%ed.
This is a game I've actually had my eye on ever since it released as I used to play the Zuma series a lot back in the day, but I simply never got motivated to picking it up at full price with everything else at my disposal. I was hoping for it, or even its predecessor, to go on sale sooner or later so I could finally get myself over the hump and pick it up for my gaming enjoyment. Now that I have done so and my teeth are sunk into it I'm happy its everything I hoped for and more, even considering one certain aspect of the game really grinds my gears. Overall I certainly feel it has given me well more than what I paid into it and that I can recommend it to anyone for its full price, though I would hope you'd just run out and buy it now while its significantly discounted!
I've played for several hours and I'm not even halfway through the storyline nor have I much more than just brushed the surface of the other game modes, something that will surely change soon enough. Sparkle 2 won't be able to last me forever, but when all is said and done it'll have lasted me long enough to both make me satisfied with it and hope there is a Sparkle 3 out there somewhere on the horizon. *cough*With leaderboards.*cough*
Winning those I lost seems to have been only a matter of changing my strategy. By the end of the game, you are allowed to take four of 16 enchantments with you onto a level. The number of enchantment at your disposal you have obviously being relevant to how many you've unlocked. I'm currently at 9 unlocked, giving me two full enchantment options and 1/4 of the third. At this point it the game one needs to clear five levels to unlock the next enchantment. After each completion you'll see on the post-game screen a graphic showing you your progress.
Some enchantments will periodically add to your slinger a special orb. The enchantment I'm currently using is the Purple Fire enchantment. This entitles me to once in every 20 generated orbs to receive this special orb. The Purple Fire orb will knock out a wide circle of orbs where you send it, giving you a great chance to catch up, get ahead, or ensure the status quo is maintained at the least.
You'll also be allowed to select an enchantment that will cycle through the orbs from front to back, which may be the key to earning something like the combo chain of 24 which unlocks a trophy. Currently you can only swap between the first and second orb without the enchantment. Arming the enchantment will allow you to send the first orb to the back, bringing the second to the front, and sending the second to the back.
Something helpful I stumbled upon while playing is that if you want to have some extra control over where your orb will soar to, you can hold down on the touch screen and a directional assist will come up and move with your finger as you aim. Merely release your finger from the touch screen when you wish to and the action will be performed. I find it easier to just eyeball it without the directional assistant, but I'm sure some of you may find it handy in a situation or two.
As I mentioned earlier, Sparkle 2 has 5 game modes for you to peruse.
To refresh your memory, there are three various difficulties alongside challenge and survival modes.
According to the game's website there are nearly 100 levels to be battled through to come to the end in Story Mode. Playing each difficulty, Normal/Hard/Nightmarish, will net you a trophy up to a Gold Trophy, this in particular being the reward for the Nightmarish difficulty conquest of course. I'm fully confident in my inability to ever get that trophy!
Survival Mode has 32 stages for you to work on, earning 5 stars in each and lasting as long as you can. This section is where I'm most disappointed by the game and where I'l knock it the hardest. I see no reason to have a survival mode in this fashion where you can continue to play on past earning 5 stars, but having not even a little notification at the end telling you how long you lasted. I'd have been elated to see a personal leaderboard to track your time on and that's exactly what I anticipated seeing at the end, something like the top 10 scores for the board.
I can accept that they didn't want to do something like that, it could be too much work or whatever, but I don't feel that in deciding to leave it out they implemented what they did to the best of their abilities. I'd have been much more keen on seeing that the stars were spread out further apart and once you got the 5 it was over and you're sent to the mode's menu to carry on. It's still a survival mode, but it cuts out the unnecessary extension with no reward we currently have.
In addition to not having any reason to do anything after the 5 stars are achieved aside from letting the game end as quickly as possible, I have no motivation to replay the levels as I don't want to be tracking my own times with a stopwatch and a notepad.
Challenge Mode has 30 levels to its credit, each needing you to complete it 3 times. There's really nothing special about the mode to make any note of, its just replaying boards at random difficulties which isn't necessarily bad, but isn't very exciting.
If you're a trophy hunter I'd expect this game to be one you should be interested in. Through this point in the game I have over half the trophies without trying to get even one. I'm sure something like clearing the game on Nightmarish will be no fun task, but it'll be just about the only trophy you need to worry about in getting this game 100%ed.
This is a game I've actually had my eye on ever since it released as I used to play the Zuma series a lot back in the day, but I simply never got motivated to picking it up at full price with everything else at my disposal. I was hoping for it, or even its predecessor, to go on sale sooner or later so I could finally get myself over the hump and pick it up for my gaming enjoyment. Now that I have done so and my teeth are sunk into it I'm happy its everything I hoped for and more, even considering one certain aspect of the game really grinds my gears. Overall I certainly feel it has given me well more than what I paid into it and that I can recommend it to anyone for its full price, though I would hope you'd just run out and buy it now while its significantly discounted!
I've played for several hours and I'm not even halfway through the storyline nor have I much more than just brushed the surface of the other game modes, something that will surely change soon enough. Sparkle 2 won't be able to last me forever, but when all is said and done it'll have lasted me long enough to both make me satisfied with it and hope there is a Sparkle 3 out there somewhere on the horizon. *cough*With leaderboards.*cough*
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