Globlins is a blob popping puzzle game available to download for iOS and Google Play. Why are you popping one-eyed, little smiling boogers? Who knows? It’s just fun. In each level, Globlins are arranged in a field and when you tap on them with your finger, they’ll either grow or pop, depending on how big they are. Pop them all to complete the level, but it’s not that easy.

You can’t just pop them willy-nilly. You have a meter on the right side of the screen that goes down each time you pop a Globlin. If your meter is empty, the game is over. However, when you pop a Globlin, they will shoot out dots in four directions: up, down, left, and right. If one of these dots hits another Globlin, they’ll either grow to the next stage or pop if they’re fully grown. So you must figure out which ones to pop in order to conserve your limited drop meter. Also, if you pop a bunch of Globlins this way and make combos and chains, your meter will go up a bit, too. Every so often, you may encounter special Globlins that can shoot out dots in eight directions or emit double the dots, so use them wisely!

There are several worlds with 10 to 15 stages each, generally. In each level, you usually have to survive around five or more stages without depleting your drop meter. But some special stages only have one level where you must clear the board with a very limited amount of drops. And at the end of each world is a boss fight, where you must pop as many Globlins as you can with one tap, so the boss Globin won’t absorb the rest to refill his energy.

When you complete levels and get a high score, you’ll earn coins. You can spend these coins during levels to inject Globins with DNA that’ll turn them into one of the special Globlins if you need help. If you have a lot of coins, you can spend them on gadgets to help boost your score in the levels, but these gadgets are so expensive that you’d have to play the game for a very long time to buy even one. They are hoping you will spend real money to buy more coins so you can get those items.

Really the only annoyance I have with this game is that it has a few of the problems I have with free-to-play games, but I’m PRETTY SURE Globlins is not a free download. For instance, each level costs a certain number of drops to play, and if you don’t have enough, you have to wait for them to refill over time. You don’t have to wait too long for it to refill, but it’s still annoying that you have to do this. Especially since the levels get hard rather quickly. If I pay for a game, I want to be able to play it whenever I want. But otherwise, this is a fun and challenging puzzler with tons of levels.

Kid Factor:

Violence is minimal. When you do pop a Globlin, they explode in a snotty mess and sometimes their one eye looks around on the ground for a bit afterward, but that’s it. The game is very cartoony otherwise. Reading skill is helpful for the instructions, and younger gamers may need help with the higher, tougher levels. Plus this game teaches thinking and logic skills, so it’s kind of educational, too. Parents may like the way the game limits how you play, but it can still get annoying when the challenge sets in.

Tags: Game Reviews