Gaia Game Review

Gaia is the Greek goddess of the Earth, a hypothesis stating that the Earth’s ecosystem acts as a single organism and one heck of an iPhone puzzle game. Developed by David Breitigam of Quicksand Interactive, Gaia combines aspects of existing puzzle games with its own unique blend of features and mechanics. Gaia includes twenty hand illustrated game pieces, bonus levels, point multipliers, accelerometer control, resume support and one seriously ingenious high score entry. It’s currently selling for $2.99 in the Apple iTunes App Store.

Gaia Gameplay

Gaia is one of those games that immediately feels familiar only to reveal how different it really is over the course of several gaming sessions. In Gaia, a random pattern of Earth themed icons fills the game board creating clusters where three or more of the same icon are touching. Players tap these clusters in order to remove them from the board, score points and fill the level promotion meter. Sounds like every other swap and pop type puzzle game, right? Wrong! When the clusters of icons are removed holes are created. These holes are then filled by dropping in a new icons from one of the game board sides. Players control which side releases new icons by tilting the iPhone or iPod Touch. Even after filling the game board with new icons some holes may still exist. Players can fill these holes by tilting their iPhones in an attempt to slide pieces into the empty spaces. The only thing preventing your from sliding peices around is lack of holes and clusters which may block holes. The idea here it to strategically remove, slide and fill spaces with icons that will yeild the largest clusters. Remove clusters to fill the meter bar and progress to the next level. New levels introduce different icons, fewer initial clusters, the dreaded dead slots and the occasional bonus level. Your game ends when there are no available clusters to be removed.

The game play in Gaia is deceptively simply. When I first played the game I was like, “Is this it?” It took a few sessions for me to learn all the moves available in the game. Gaia really needs some sort of help screen or in game tutorial, not because the game is confusing, but because the game plays a lot like so many other games some people may assume that’s all it has to offer. That would be a real shame to, because once you figure out how to play Gaia, it’s really a relaxing puzzle game with a good amount of polish and replay value.

One of my favorite parts of Gaia is the high score entry. Instead of the standard name or initial entry, Gaia lets you tag your high score by drawing. If you obtain a high enough score to get into a medal slot a little box will appear where you can draw whatever you want. As if that weren’t cool enough, Gaia remembers how you drew your high score tag a replays the creation of each image when the medals screen is selected. While there is a limit to how complex your picture can be, Gaia’s high score entry is like a little game with in a game.

Gaia Graphics

Gaia’s main graphics include twenty hand illustrated icons. While, I applaud the original creations and love the way they tile when clustered, they are just a tad plain and a little dated looking. The menu system is also a little plain looking and lacks any textual description of the game, it’s icons or menus. I understand that Quicksand interactive wanted to build a language free game by only using icons and while that’s a cool idea, it does leave parts of the game and menus a little bit vague.

Gaia Sound

The sound effects in Gaia, while minimal, serve to create a relaxing game experience. A water sound plays upon starting a new level and each Earth icon plays one of a few complimentary notes. As you remove clusters from the game board you will build little random Gaia melodies that are quite pleasing. I actually started removing pieces from the game board on lower levels in an attempt to play a recognizable melody. Let’s just say, I’m still working on it.

Gaia Price

Gaia is currently priced at $2.99. It’s a rarity here on TiltGamer, but I’m going to say that’s the right price for this game. Great job David.

Gaia Summary

Gaia is puzzle therapy. It’s familiar game play mixed with original and iPhone specific mechanics effectively create one of the better puzzle experiences on the iPhone. This, combined with the in game features and high score drawing mini app make Gaia a must have for iPhone puzzle gamers.

By: Aaron Robbins