Fruitz (99 cents) is a highly addictive puzzle game for the iPhone that puts fruit at the center of the gameplay. The object is to round up specific amounts of fruit by outlining them with a box, making sure each corner is the same fruit type. With beautiful graphics and simple controls, it’s definitely a winner.
You start out at level one and continue to progress as long as you keep beating the clock. The clock continues to run down, but will add time with each piece of fruit you collect. The screen is full of different pieces of fruit, and it’s your job to draw a box around as many pieces as you can. It will only work if each corner of the box is the same type of fruit. For example, if all four corners are apples, then all the fruit in the box will be squished and points will be added to your score. To draw the box, you simple touch and drag your finger on the screen.
There are several power-ups that can help you along the way. The exploding coconuts are particularly useful, but you only get three of them.
The game is surprisingly addictive. There is a slight learning curve at the beginning, but once you start to understand how the game works, the pace picks up and it becomes difficult to stop. The one criticism I have with the game is the lack of variety in the fruits. Where are the peaches, plums and mangos? That, of course, is a very minor issue. The game is well-polished and just plain fun.
