Totomi

Totomi is a young boy, inexplicably dressed in a cat suit, who is wandering around, admiring the sunshine when he is summoned and asked to build a totem to the clouds. This is necessary in order to save his land from drying up and has occurred because the god of rain is vacationing in the Bahamas and the remaining gods are having a pool party (?!). So goes the legend of Totomi which is quirky fun but has little to due with actual gameplay. The object of the game both in the various classic story modes and the timed arcade mode is to stack various characters in order to make totems--the higher the better. The fun and interesting part of the game is figuring out the relationships of the different animals and foods to each other. Like animals make babies, some objects are food for others and some animals are friends. Birds fly on top of logs and some animals cause others to become 'sick'. The interactions are revealed through a nice tutorial, gameplay and Totomi's card collection, which details each animal's relationship to the other characters in the game and are unlocked with progressively higher scores. As the game's creatures are dropped from the 'production line' you use a finger swipe to place it in one of three columns and build your totems. On screen symbols such as hearts, baby bottles and utensils indicate the current object's relationship to each of the three totems being built. When an unrelated object is placed on a totem (indicated by a blue exclamation point) the totem is 'collected', accumulating points and time. Each new level introduces more animals and foods and it becomes increasingly difficult to build high totems; planning and strategy are essential in order to continue the game at this stage. On more than one occasion I have found myself chaotically swiping at my iPhone, piling objects on one another in an effort to beat the clock and my last high score---only to sheepishly realize I was in a public place where such behavior might be considered odd at best. Totomi is a fun and challenging game within the rather generic genre of stacking puzzle games. Great sound effects and charming graphics contribute positively to the overall appeal. At $4.99 it is a worthy addition to your game collection.