bitFLIP Review
One twist turns this puzzler from average to fun.
by Levi Buchanan
November 3, 2009 - There are a few constants in this life. Death. Taxes. A new match-three puzzler in the App Store every week. Many of these puzzlers tread familiar waters. And for the first few minutes, Hands-On Mobile's new bitFLIP looks like it will simply blend into the pack. But once you discover that the tiles in the field are two-sided and can be flipped with a simple double-tap as well as swapped like a Bejeweled pair, to make additional matches and rack up mega-combos, bitFLIP takes on a whole new life.
bitFLIP offers three play modes: Quick Jam, Endless, and Forever Jam. (Forever Jam is unlocked by playing Quick Jam five times.) There is also a tutorial I recommend playing through to teach you the essentials, from the ability to direct the way tokens are switched by dragging your finger across the field to explanations of the extra tokens bitFLIP throws into the field. Tap the extra tokens to fill up a special power bar along the top of the play field. When it is full, tap the bar to either tilt the board and let pieces automatically slide into cleared sections of the field or cause random pieces to vibrate. Tapping the vibrating pieces makes them disappear without having to match them with at least two other pieces.
Now, I recognize that so much of this sounds like a typical match-three puzzler. What saves it is the flipping. This effectively doubles the number of tokens in play and opens up tons of extra matching options. Once you learn what colors are paired together on the two-sided tokens, you really can enter a groove and get on some hot streaks. I really enjoyed mixing this up with Endless Mode, which stacks pieces on top of each other. You need to watch the background of the grid squares for indications of when the stacks are almost too tall, such as flashing oranges and reds. That groove I mentioned can kind of turn into a panic from time to time in Endless Mode, but taking the puzzle back from the brink is quite satisfying.
The fact that bitFLIP is flanked by a killer soundtrack is just icing; it will appeal to any genre fan (like me). It's too bad that the bitFLIP soundtrack is not tied to the gameplay like the Groovin' Blocks' electronica score, but that doesn't lessen its effectiveness. Extra bonus: you can download it for free. I highly recommend doing so.
bitFLIP was reviewed with version 1.0.
Closing Comments
bitFLIP is a great surprise. At first, it looked like a basic match-three game with a great soundtrack. But flipping the tiles as well as swapping them adds a needed wrinkle to the genre. Throw in a free soundtrack download and bitFLIP becomes a good download for puzzle fans looking for both fun and a bargain.
IGN Ratings for bitFLIP (iPhone)