From the developers of Azkend, 10tons brings us a Zuma clone with a unique look and story. But how does it face off against other Zuma clones on the AppStore?

Sparkle the Game ($0.99)

We’ve absolutely loved Azkend’s unmatched sophistication and design and to this day, stands as THE best macthing game there is. SPOILER ALERT: Sparkle the Game is just as great if not better than Azkend. Prepare to enter one dazzling world of this epic game.

Presentation

I’ve got to be honest, all of these Zuma / Luxor clones look very similar to me. Sparkle is not much different, but it’s very nice and polished. Sparkle’s look is slightly darker and more natural than the others since it is set in a (dark) forest.

The thing that dazzles me the most are the sparkly things that pop in and out of the screen as well as the black smoke (cue Lost music). And although I normally never take this into account, Sparkle also has a delightful soundtrack to accompany the game’s visuals. A+++

Controls

All these games work quite well on the iDevice’s touch screens. Different to Luxor, the ‘cannon’ isn’t on the bottom of the screen, but instead is on different locations throughout the level, and you have the ability to shoot 360 degrees around. Just tap and drag to aim, and release to shoot.

Gameplay

Surely you have played Luxor or Zuma (or one of it’s numerous clones at some point). At it’s core, it’s a match 3 game. You have a line of balls coming up the track, your goal is to shoot the same color ball from the cannon to the track, and have a set of at least 3 same colored balls to make them disappear, and make sure the balls don’t reach the end of the track. You’ll want to try to go for larger combos though.

Along the way there are different power-ups you can collect, from a pointer sort of thing to help you make a more accurate shot, etc. There is a main quest mode following a story, a survival mode, and a time-attack challenge mode. Again, the main gameplay is the mostly same as Luxor or Zuma.

Suggestions

The game could really use something for high scores and achievements. Seeing as Luxor is on Plus+, I’d recommend OpenFeint or Crystal. It would make the game much better.

Conclusion

Although the core of the game is similar to most other clones, Sparkle is a polished game I’d recommend if you’re into the genre. If it appeals to you I suggest you grab it now before MumboJumbo gets its evil claws to this game much like they did for Stoneloops. This game is the sh#t and honestly, way better than Luxor itself.