Ages: All
TeamUp based on a game by Girls, Inc. and Large Animal Games is the first mobile game we have reviewed. We were provided with a review copy already installed on a cellphone, but our experience with other mobile software indicates that the download and installation should be a quick and easy operation.
TeamUp is an animated puzzle game. You have three types of girl characters at each level - pushers, jumpers and throwers. The object is to use the special talents of each to navigate the landscape so that all the girls can get to the goal. The landscape itself is a rectangular grid of about 13x13 squares. The levels are attractive and the little creatures nicely rendered. The initial placement and number of the girls, as well as obsticles (water, crates, ledges) are the challenge. The pusher can shove the crates around, and either get them out of the way of the path to the goal, drop them into the water to make a path across the water or push them next to higher ledges so that they can be climbed up one ledge at a time. The jumper can jump up onto a crate or ledge and also pull other girls up (if there is enough room for both of them at the top). The thrower can throw another girl ahead 4 squares, which can get one girl across a water gap or up one or more squares if the crates are stacked or the landscape is not level. There are also rafts to cross water spaces, lifts with activation switches to raise a girl to a higher level, and magic warps (which look like blower fans) which transport a girl from one such square to the other correspondingly colored square.
The game comes with 50 'levels' - preset arrangements which you have to solve. The playing stage is shown in an isometric view, and you can rotate the view by 180 degrees to look at it from the other side. Moving the girls and switching characters is easy and natural; the current active character has a small pulsing dot above her head. There is no time limit - you can study the scene as long as you want and take as long as you want to make each move. If a girl steps into the water (or jumps or is thrown there) the level resets. Although there is no undo, with this small a platform you don't feel too put out to just reset the level to its beginning.
There can be more than one way to solve a level, but cooperation is required amongst the girls; the thrower may have to throw a jumper or pusher into a better spot so that she can move a crate or raise an elevator. They in turn have to make sure that the thrower can get to the goal, as this character can help others, but has no abilities to help herself (other than the common ability to move around a level space and to go up stairs).
There is a Design-a-level mode where you can design and build your own levels. Once you have tested them out, to verify that there is at least one solution, you can upload them for inclusion in the Challenge mode. Here you and others can download levels designed by other players.
In the time I had the review copy I played about 18 levels - each one taking a short amount of time, maybe 5 to 15 minutes - just right for standing in line at the Post Office. You can always replay any level you have already done, and the game remembers your progress. There is a web/casual version of this game, which will be reviewed separately. I can't wait to get my own mobile copy.
Fun Factor: Proceed at your own pace. No enemies.
Female Factor: All characters are girls.
Player Friendly: Not timed.
Reviewed by: Lou Katz - 04/07