Gamer reviews for Twisty Hollow
Twisty Hollow Will Make Your World Spin
Arkadium would like to take a moment and welcome you to the unusual town of Twisty Hollow. This is a town unlike any other that is trying to do business as usual under some rather unique circumstances. The mayor is a tyrannical lunatic, the sheriff is an actual bear and yet the townsfolk still need their cheeseburgers and diamonds. And that's where you come in...
The game is free this week on the App Store with no in-app purchases or ads as of now.
The gameplay is a unique blend of Diner Dash and a Fraser Spiral. The game board is a set of three concentric circles, each with a set of adorable cartoon icons. The icons need to be matched up and selected to produce a thing that a villager wants. For example, the inner circle may have a Fisherman (lady), a lumberjack, and a chef. The middle circle will have a fishing pole, a knife and an axe and the third circle will have a fishing lure, a tree and a fish. If a villager comes up requesting a fish, the player will need to line up the fisher-lad, the lure and the pole to make a fish appear. These same fish can be prepared into a sushi roll by the chef and his knife.
After passing the first few levels, the game will lob a few curve-balls into the mix by turning your customers into animals who can't talk, a whack-a-mole knockoff (ha...) and by adding customers who spontaneously combust and must be extinguished.
The game currently features 50 levels full of circular nonsense, some witty dialogue and a clean cut-paper graphics style. The music is peppy and super hum-able and the sound effects are almost more adorable than they are grating.
Overall, the game is worth a download. It probably won't be the game of a lifetime for too many folks, but it is a neat change of pace from the App Store status quo. Fans of the beat-the-clock food prep games will probably be the happiest new residents of Twisty Hollow, but those of you who value a skill-based experience over a chance-based one might also find time to unwind here.
I gave the game 4 out of 5 stars. I love it that the App Store has decided to feature a title that is a slightly different genre of puzzle game and I hope they continue to do so, but I find this particular game to be less than totally fulfilling. The only goal is to make it through each level and inevitably to the end of the game, which only took me a day to reach. There is no incentive to go back and earn more stars in the levels other than the joy I felt from having gotten better at playing them.