I finished up Tappingo 2 today (LTTP due to an out of commission 3DS) and am as pleased with the sequel as I was with the original. The objective of Tappingo puzzles is to slide numbered boxes along the screen to complete an image (a more basic, Pushmoish experience). The developer incorporated feedback from the first game as promised: completed puzzles are labelled, zooming, improved background color, better grid, and
button controls added alongside the original stylus controls. (I prefer stylus to buttons.) Basic quibbles include a couple of
typos and some wonky text spacing. The gameplay is solid but it could benefit from more features and polish.
I heard you like Dual Screen Consoles so Tappingo 2 put a Dual Screen Console...
The most common complaint about the first game was that it was too easy in the beginning. The gradual difficulty increase is great for accessibility so rather than changing the puzzles, I would suggest adding new modes to approach them. Solve the puzzle normally or add an extra challenge:
Make the timer punishing: 3 seconds to slide a box or random boxes will unslide. Given the domino effect that unsliding can cause, the entire puzzle could be a mess if the player doesn't move quickly.
Randomly obscure sections of the puzzle so the player has only what they can see or remember to work with.
Once a box has been slid, remove the number even if its unslid. This encourages the player to rely on strategy and memory rather than trial and error.
Remove some of the numbers completely: half of the puzzle in normal, numbered boxes and the other half blank.
Bigger puzzles. The most complex puzzles at the end of the game still fit in the touch screen. How about giant puzzles that require the player to zoom and pan to solve?
I really like Tappingo despite its simplicity and believe the games have a solid base of logic, strategy, and problem solving but some tweaking to the approach could add a lot. It's a great lunch break, TV time distraction. If you liked the first, this is an enjoyable sequel. If you've yet to try one, the improvements in this iteration make it a good place to start. This nice, little puzzle game needs a bit more love around here