It takes a brave developer in a zombie-slaying, irate-bird-launching, console-porting mobile game world to take a mundane task — bagging groceries — and turn it into an iOS (and Android) puzzler, much less one with incredible appeal. Bag It! HD pulls it off with a fresh level-based puzzle game that looks good, plays well, and — something I say rarely — offers unique gameplay.
Bag It! is made up of levels, broken into different environments or Aisles. Each one, even the individual levels, offers distinct challenges.
The game starts in the Got Spilt lane. Here, you’re presented with the basic task: Get each of the food items packed efficiently into brown paper bags. The groceries have varying weights and sizes and must be stacked so they all fit without the heavier items crushing more fragile fare. Items can be rotated 360 degrees, which evokes both Tetris and tangram puzzles, but the added physics element makes Bag It! a completely different experience.
Midway through the first Aisle, Udder Mayhem unlocks. Here you break as many snacks as possible. Next comes Fresh Squeeze, which forces perfection. Ultimate Bagger is an endless variant; Endless Rampage rewards huge bag-tastophes; Power Surge is hardcore.
There are a few issues. The controls, when rotating, are imprecise. I got used to it, but I didn’t get over the frustration of being unable to remove items from the bag without starting over. I hope we can return items to the conveyer belt when the promised Game Center integration rolls out. It’s all small stuff, Bag It! offers solving satisfaction.
