A different brand of hex-based strategic gameplay, the slick and charming puzzler Joining Hands, is now available for your iPhone or iPad. It’s a game about holding hands, a game about connecting cute creatures to achieve total happiness.
10Tons Ltd’s Joining Hands, a $3.99 game available from Apple’s iTunes store, challenges you with arranging a handful of spherical beings named Peablins with the goal of connecting them all hand-to-hand. Some Peablins have but a single hand, some have five. Some are grumpy, refusing to hold hands with other species or refusing to move their arms from a rigid position. Some must be rotated with a tap of the finger and carefully accommodated in order to achieve peace.
Some creature are simply antisocial and moody, with the sweeping emo haircut to prove it. Others are immobile and can’t be moved at all.
Joining Hands throws dozens of puzzle playing fields at the player, each with hexagonal play spaces. Players need to arrange their group of Peablins, Gloobins and Brufflins to make sure no hand goes un-held, shuffling, twisting and rearranging their positions. Bonuses pay out in the form of stars. Ensure that your solution has a creature positioned on a bonus star when the harmonious hand-holding comes together for a win-win.
This is an adorable piece of software, a lovingly illustrated and presented game with an enjoyable puzzle mechanic. Perhaps its only negative bullet point is its bursts of difficulty. Some puzzles can be a real challenge, and while none of them feel truly insurmountable, a suggestion system or level skip option might be appreciated in a future update.
Joining Hands is a universal app, worth the few dollars it takes to buy into this feel-good puzzle game. There are well over a hundred levels already available, with the developer recently updating the game to include dozens more.
Don’t let the higher than average iOS app price turn you away. Joining Hands is a great, inventive puzzle game with plenty of loveable qualities.
Joining Hands [iTunes]
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