Welcome Time Wasters!
This week I’m revisiting a game from the past. Not the far past, mind you, but rather from just a few months ago. That game is Flip: Surfing Colors, which is now in its second season.
It’s worth noting that I’m going to be referring back to my original review of Flip: Surfing Colors this time around. As such, I advise anyone who hasn’t read that, or just needs a refresher, to follow this link and do so.
Flip: Surfing Colors Season 2 takes that same base gameplay for the first season and makes some changes to it. However, it does so without changing too much about the formula. That means that players will still be changing colors and breaking through objects the same color as them, all while avoiding those that are different colors.
Probably the biggest change to Flip: Surfing Colors is how health works. This time around, the player’s health will slowly drain as they travel down the various courses in the game. To get health back, players will have to collect health pickups, or smash through objects that are the same color as them. They’ll also have to avoid hitting objects that are different colors so as not to drain their health quicker. I’ll also mention that the player can survive more than three hits now, unlike in Season One.
Honestly, I can say that I don’t really care for this change. In some ways it’s a positive as it gets the player more proactive in touching objects to regain health. The problem is that it also results in the player dying eventually no matter how well they do. It also doesn’t help that the change to levels makes the game feel more like an endless runner.
Levels are much different in Flip: Surfing Colors Season Two. There are still separate levels, but now they each run right into one another. The glider acts as the break between levels and gives the player some extra points to fly through. After a short loading screen, it then sets the player down at the start of the next level. The big negative here is that the game doesn’t restore the player’s health at the start of this level.
This also changes how players unlock levels in Flip: Surfing Colors Season Two and it’s for the worse. Players now have to complete a level to be able to start from it the next time. This means that the game requires players to actually bet two levels in a row just to unlock a single new level. There’s also an option to use the in-game currency to unlock levels faster, but that just seems like an additional method to try and squeeze money and time out of players.
Another change is how the game controls. The character still follows along with the players swipes at the bottom of the screen, but now it feels much more jagged and rough. It’s weird since the controls in Season One were much more smooth. I don’t really know why this change was made, but it’s another negative for the game.
The graphics and audio in Flip: Surfing Colors Season Two remain much the same as the prior season. There are some changes to levels that add more shapes and variety in objects, but that’s about it. At least it didn’t get worse, right?
Overall, Flip: Surfing Colors Season Two just doesn’t hold up to Season One. That’s a real bummer as I was a fan of the first season. Now it just feels closer to every other mobile game out there that tries to either drain the player’s time or wallet. Maybe things will change in a possible Season Three. Here’s hoping.
Flip: Surfing Colors earns 2.5 GiN Gems out of 5!