A ‘Koi’ Diversion- Carpl Reviewed

Most
games have a simple concept at the core of their gameplay. This concept
is often then expanded-on and/or combined with other concepts until,
ideally, the game becomes a unique experience. If the basic concept of
a game is flawed or just not fun, expanding on it is pretty pointless.
However, if a game has clever concept at its core, the game as a whole
can often remain quite simple and still be a total success. Tetris is a
perfect example of a simple but great game that relies solely on simple
but clever gameplay. Carpl is an iPhone/Touch game that tries to
capture that phenomenon of simple yet fun.

Carpl is an action game for the iPhone/Touch that is quite easy to
explain. As the player, you drag a small caligraphy circle called an
enso, around what appears to be a canvas. Flowers and creatures will
drift and move through the playfield. You must drag the enso to collect
the flowers and avoid the creatures. If you remove your finger from the
enso, touch the borders of the canvas, or touch an enemy, you lose a
life. The goal is to collect as many flowers as possible before losing
all of your lifes. Blue flowers give more points than the normal pink
flowers, and green flowers temporarily clear the canvas of all flowers
and creatures. That’s it.

Carpl seems to be attempting to create a zen-like experience similiar to that of Zen Bound. They even share the relaxing asian-inspired visuals. Unfortunately, the game has a serious flaw similiar to that of Yuck Fu.
Carpl isn’t clever and is much too simple. It’s challenging but nothing
more than a simple dodge-em-up, collect-em-up. Being unable to remove
your finger from the screen means no switching fingers. That means your
finger can get sore pretty fast.

The aesthetics, while done in a somewhat attractive caligraphy style,
can’t really save the game either. I was expecting more from the
visuals (perhaps rippling water effects?), but they’re a bit more
boring than relaxing. The fish animate and flex nicely until they try
to turn too sharply and their bodies glitch out momentarily, showing
obvious segmentation. The sounds are minimal consisting of wooden
clicks and metallic chimes, over the sound of rushing water. There’s no
music except for a simple tune on the title screen.

If you need a virtual pond on your iPhone, Koi Pond
might be the way to go. Sure, it’s not a game, but it’s cheaper ($0.99
USD), prettier and more featured. The dull gameplay Carpl offers just
isn’t worth the $1.99 USD.