Why would I need an accelerometer?
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| Source // MobyGames |
It doesn't look like much, does it, but then you have to say that about all successful handheld puzzle games. Tetris. Bejeweled. Trism.
Emerging on the early iPhone, gravity-based match-three puzzler Trism was unlike anything else, completely changed the developer's life, and, like many puzzle games, will make your head grind to a halt.
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| Source // MobyGames |
Frustrations
I don't own any Apple products anymore, and Trism hasn't been ported to other handhelds with accelerometers or whatever sensors it needs to function. A quick search of the Play store doesn't even throw up some knock-off imitators looking to cash in on its success. Trism exists only for those lucky enough to be in a position to have access to it - so not me.
Not that I'd be very good at it, I think. The objective of the game is up there, in the glorious default iOS text box. You use your fingers to slide a looped line of trisms around in an attempt to match three or more of the same colour, which disappear, score you points, and allow more trisms to slide down and plug the gaps.
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| Source // MobyGames |
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| Source // MobyGames |
But that's not all Trism does. It's got trisms that nailed to the grid and don't move, and it's got bomb trisms that need to be dealt with, and multicoloured trisms to make your life easier, but all of these are standard match-three puzzle affairs.
Where Trism differs is that the trisms will slide down to fill in the gaps according to the direction of gravity as sensed by your phone. Tilt it sideways and that way is down. Hold it upright and that way is now down.
Suddenly, there is an extra dimension, a physical element to consider when playing Trism. You've been conditioned to believe puzzle games follow physical rules where down is down, like down has always been, but now down is different and it's hurting my brain.
I don't think Trism moves at too hectic a pace for me to ever cope with this - I'm sure you'd get used to it - but from never having played it, I do know my immediate thoughts on the idea of having to factor in the orientation of my phone.
Final Word
But by all accounts, while it looked basic, it did exactly what the great mobile phone games did - it kept people hooked with quick bursts of gameplay, and made use of the sensors in their phone that were probably never otherwise made use of by the majority of users, except for those utterly stupid apps designed to make your phone look like a glass of beer.
I've not played Trism, don't quite know how I ever will play Trism if it does remain locked on the App Store, but wouldn't mind giving Trism a try at all. Would I get very far? Probably not. Would I master its gimmick? I guess I'd have to at least understand it to have a chance of doing well. Would I play it long enough to get there? It's a mobile puzzle game, and addiction to such games can come far too easily...
Definitely one to look out for, just to see how I'd get on with it.
Fun Facts
Multiple modes allow you to play basic games or solve puzzle scenarios in the fewest tilts of your iPhone.
Trism, developed by Demiforce, first released in 2008.
Version watched: iOS, 2008 (Pocket Gamer)