GeoBalance is a relatively new Windows Phone game from Infinite Square, the developers of the game HiLight and the e-card app Say it with Flowers. GeoBalance is a puzzle game that has you stacking and balancing a wide assortment of geometric shapes on a suspended platform.
The game has 200 levels of gaming and a secondary gaming mode to offer up a little variety. On the surface, GeoBalance comes across as a simple gaming title but when you get past the fourth or fifth level, it can remind you how unforgiving gravity can be. Available for low-memory Windows Phones, GeoBalance is an entertaining puzzle title that tests your skills at planning, logic and patience. You'll also need a soft touch at times in placing some of the more odd shaped pieces.
Once the GeoBalance splash screen fades away, the game wastes no time in transitioning to the main menu. Here you will find the 200 levels of play charted out along with options to pull up the settings menu and gaming mode menu.
The settings menu sits in the lower left corner of the main menu with options to mute the sound, mute the music, share the game and view other titles from the developer. Game modes are accessible from the lower right corner of the main menu. Tapping on a level from the main menu will send you to the primary game but if you want to mix things up a little, there is a Totem Mode available.
With the Totem Mode, you are given an endless supply of shapes to stack. The goal is to see how many of these shapes you can stack and balance on a suspended platform before the balance is tipped.
There are two additional buttons in the gaming mode menu. One appears to be a level editor and the other a timed gaming mode. We cannot say for sure what these buttons will eventually do, but the developer tells us they are teasers for features that are in the works.
Again, tapping one of the levels mapped out on the main menu will send you to the primary gaming mode for GeoBalance. Here you are given a supply of shapes that you have to stack and balance on a suspended platform. Once you get all your shapes into place, they have to remain balanced for five seconds.
The mechanics of game play, regardless of the gaming mode, is done by tapping and dragging puzzle pieces into place on the platform. The available puzzle pieces are lined up at the top of the screen with a gravity line crossing the screen just below these pieces. Once you move a piece past the gravity line, if you release your hold on the screen gravity will kick in, effecting the placement of the geometric shape. You can use multi-touch to rotate the pieces but just remember, if you lose contact with the screen, the shape will fall into place as is.
To add to the challenge of the game, the suspended platforms you stack and balance your objects on will vary from level to level. You have the traditional straight line platform, as well as odd shaped platforms to balance your shapes on. For example, you have a set of Olympic Rings, slanted platforms, circles and other oddities to stack and balance on.
Each level has multiple solutions and if the puzzle level gets too much of a challenge, GeoBalance does give you three jokers to play that will allow you to skip that level. Additionally, as you complete the gaming levels you can earn additional jokers to use should the need arises.
Overall Impressions
GeoBalance is a Windows Phone game that requires a little patience, planning and in a way a soft touch. There is an element of urgency with some of the puzzles in that once you release your hold on an object, the physics of gravity can shift the balance of your stack. You'll need to get the next object in place to regain that balance and to prevent your stack from falling.
GeoBalance is not an overly complicated game to pick up, but that isn't to mean the game is without challenge. The shape assortment will keep you guessing and the physics engine does a really nice job of things.
It is a fun time waster and I can see it being a fun pass and play style game to share with a friend. Speaking of which, a two player game might not be a bad addition to GeoBalance. Maybe a gaming mode where you take turns placing shapes and the first to make the stack fall loses?
Overall, I found GeoBalance to be an appealing Windows Phone title to have in your gaming library. GeoBalance is a free game and if you give it a try, let us know what you think of things in the comments below.
Download GeoBalance from the Windows Phone Store (Free)
