Domino Drop

Looks like the developer hasn’t updated this app in a long time. You need to hold your device in portrait mode until the game fully loads, otherwise you will have issues with the orientation switching. Fun game, but would like the option to remove all white pieces, and please make it more simple to get between games. Watching the beginning transition/loading in between each game is nonsense. One click/touch should be all that’s needed but you have to touch the arrow, wait for the play area to reset, the flick up to open the box, then wait for the USB thing to move and click in place before you get your first game piece. That’s fine if it’s your very first game of the day/session, but I play 10 or more games at a time and it gets annoying. Game could also benefit from a little drop shadow or outline showing you which pieces are locked together. This would make it easier to know which pieces you need to match up to get some waterfall action going. Also, playing on iPhone is impossible with the drag drop approach (lots of people complain about that in reviews). Dropping dominoes on the right side of the board is most difficult and even if I get one moved all the way to the right it moves a spot (to the left) when I’m simply lifting up my finger.

This game has great graphics, great music, and it's not too easy to get the hang of. I love the choices for game play, as well as the difficulty factor added by those awful blank tiles. God speed to those waiting for a blank tile to face down. This game would be a five-star home run if it weren't for the hair-trigger drop. I saw people wrote about this and still bought the game because I thought really NBD... but NO. It is bad. The game, unlike Tetris, holds a tile in position at the top (no falling or choice to rotate). To drop, you drag the tile by sliding your finger left or right anywhere on screen. Once you release your touch, it falls. The issue with this game is it is so sensitive that if I tap the screen (i.e. to drop it in the column where it originally appeared), it will drop to the right if I am no careful. And same with any finger release. It drops it in the column to the right because I use my right thumb, which will naturally pull right when I release my touch.

As others have mentioned, this game would be perfect if lifting your finger didn't drop the current piece. If I am dragging a piece side to side and want to reposition my finger, or even click pause, it drops the piece. Instead, I think a second gesture like a distinct tap should be used to place, or even a button off to the side. This is not a fast-paced game like Tetris; it is thoughtful and calm, so there is no reason for hair-trigger controls. If anything, they make the game less calm and incite screaming. I can only imagine how frustrating this must be for people who have trouble with their hands. Another design issue, this one minor: the view is semi-3D, so you see the top edge of the current row. However, the rest of the pieces below that row do not really appear 3D, and you see only their face. This makes the top row look blurry and misaligned with the background grid (once I saw it, I can't un-see it). I really like the rest of the design aesthetic, but I don't think there's any reason for the pieces to be shown this way. Purely face-on would be less distracting.

So easy to play, but it's definitely not an easy game. Very good graphics, with a creative look to the game itself. The music is fun to listen to and not annoying like other games. Most other games I just shut off the audio because the music is stupid. However, the music for this game is actually classy. I do get frustrated with not being able to rotate the tile. I guess that just adds to the difficulty of the game. Like other reviewer's have already stated, the drop of the tile is a little touchy. It's quite easy to put a tile in the wrong place by accident. Like another reviewer noted, the animation between games seems a little too much for me. I grow impatient waiting for the animation to quit so I can start playing another game. Don't give me wrong, animation is very well done, I just don't feel like waiting on it. Maybe that's more of a problem with me and not the game itself.

To start off, this game is a very well designed, with a unique twist on the traditional Tetris-style gameplay. The soundtrack is relaxing and compliments the game very well. The menu animations, and the menu itself, loading in the game, etc., are all very very smooth. Great work done by the developers in these areas. However, the frustrating game itself seems to curb my fondness for the app overall. A game will not last more than a few minutes, on average. The shortness of each game does not allow of enthusiasm to build as much as I would like. If game modes were introduced that would allow me to play each game for a longer period of time, my enjoyment of this game would increase exponentially. Perhaps introducing a game mode where you are able to turn the domino? Or maybe swap the current domino with the coming domino. Any game mode with a gimmick to allow the game to last for longer.