Pollution has taken over the world and it’s up to you to clean it up. Using a mystical arrow-shaped light-cannon, you’ll rain bouncy balls of goodness down upon the unsuspecting globules of stank in this physics-based puzzler. Angry Birds fans will feel right at home in Stay Alight with its “launch-to-topple” mechanics all-the-while reveling in some seriously gorgeous graphics.
Like Angry Birds, you will progress through 60+ stages of increasing complexity (assuming you purchase the 2nd and 3rd campaigns) using a lobbed-object to either directly hit or topple objects upon your foes – strange, grumbling piles of ooze. Your goal is to wipe-out all of the oozies in the least number of shots for the most possible points, all the while collecting mysterious puzzle pieces for some yet unknown reward.
Lighting for Every Occasion
As the game advances, your weapon gains new powers; from a simple bouncing ball of light to a timed-explosion ball to a ball that splits into three parts in mid-air. You’ll have a set number of shots per-stage, so you must use that “thing” sitting atop your head to try and figure out how to get the most bang for your ball. Unlike Angry Birds, your balls of light are quite bouncy, and many trick-shots can be made using the right combination of angle and force.
In addition to new types of light-balls, you’ll slowly gain special attacks. One such attack, for example, lets you use a giant flyswatter to crush the oozies for a few seconds. Another shakes the screen free of annoying hedges that catch your balls, rendering them harmless. Of course, you can purchase these special attacks from their in-game store as well if you want an extra edge.
A Pretty Puzzle
Stay Alight’s mechanics are fairly straightforward and typical of other games in this genre: swipe horizontally at the edge of the screen for less/more power and range, and vertically to arc your shot. You’ll need to hold your finger on the screen while aiming, and then release to shoot. At times, aiming can get tricky and you’ll need to tap-hold the other side of the screen to prevent a premature shot. As long as you keep one finger on the screen at all times, you can aim to your heart’s desire. The game provides a nice feature for recalibrating your aim as well, in the form of a “trail” that remains on-screen for subsequent shots. The graphics in this game, meanwhile, are nothing short of stunning while at the same time chalk-full of character.
The Verdict
While Stay Alight is free on the Play store, you only get 20 of the promised 60+ levels without charge. Campaigns 2 and 3 will cost you $0.99 each – not bad. The first campaign is pretty easy to get through until you hit level 15 or so, so I’d go ahead and plan on buying the rest. This game certainly stands-out from the rest of the Android junk out there in the market, and is an absolute delight to play. I just wish it was a bit more challenging from the start.
