Sparkle 2

pro

Sparkle 2 is at a quick glance just another devilishly addictive match-3 marble shooter. What sets it apart from the competition are the light RPG elements that enhances the orb-slinging gameplay enormously. These elements also do a great job to minimize the repetitiveness that usually plague match-3 games. As you progress and fill up your XP-bar you get to pimp out your orb slinger with different abilities called enchantments. They range from speed-ups and slow-downs to different kinds of orb-shattering-attacks. During the course of the game you'll have the distinct pleasure of unlocking 16 different kinds of power-ups and you can assign four of them at the same time. This is a great mechanic allowing you to tailor your orb slinger to match your play-style.

pro

The core gameplay and the subtle meta-game is really well thought out and fun. As you start playing you want to keep doing combos of at least 3 orbs because every three combos you pop results in a power-up you can grab and then instantly use. These power-ups will often get you out of a tight spot and it feels really satisfying blowing up the orbs in the nick of time as you are about to be devoured by the darkness that is the end of the orb chain. Continually doing combos will fill up the glyphs (and award you shiny Trophies) surrounding the orb slinger and when it's full the orb chain will no longer replenish. Timing and physics also come into play here since the orb chain will move at different pace and you'll have to time the shots appropriately resulting in a couple of epic shots and countless horrible misses.

pro

The sound design in the game is nothing short of impressive. The best addition to the game are undoubtedly the Inception-horn-esque sound effects that start sounding as you get too close to the end of the track and nearing unavoidable death. This really gets your adrenaline up and adds to the excitement of the game. The music made by Jonathan Geer is pretty great too (listen to the full soundtrack here) and adds to the mysterious feel of the game.

pro

As you finish the game there are two more difficulty modes to try and even if you're a videogame savant (I'm not) the Nightmare mode will give you a real challenge.

pro

The variety that is offered in the game is quite impressive. There are 90 levels in total and three game modes (Story, Survival, and Challenge) and I'm sure you'll get many hours of enjoyment granted you like match-3 games.

pro

If you want further variation you can actually use the often so underutilized DualShock 4 touch pad to aim your spinning orbs. It works passably well but I found personally that it was faster but perhaps not more accurate to use the stick to aim.

pro

If you've played the first Sparkle on the PlayStation Vita you're already familiar with the graphics and style of the game. Making the jump to PS4 is quite remarkable though and playing in vibrant and colourful 1080p does work wonders for the precision of the aim.

con

The story isn't the focal point for the game and is by no means anything to write home about. You are on a mystical journey to discover five keys scattered around the world and find out what secret they unlock. Cutscenes are presented by beautifully crafted animated screens and a piece of the story shows up every time you unlock a new key which is sufficient to nudge you along the narrative.

con

While there are actually 90 levels throughout the story portion of the game many of the levels are the same or at least very similar to each other. I do wish all levels were unique but at the same time I realize that might have been way too time-consuming for the developer to pull off.