REVIEW: Disney’s ‘Where’s My Water?’ for Apple iOS Almost Makes Bathtime Seem Logical

NOTE: Full walk-throughs for the game have been produced and are available on YouTube and are available at the following links:

• For Chapter 2, ‘Troubled Waters’ (2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 2-4, 2-5, 2-6, 2-7, 2-8, 2-9, 2-10, 2-11, 2-12, 2-13, 2-14, 2-15, 2-16, 2-17, 2-18, 2-19, 2-20)
• For Chapter 3, ‘Under Pressure’ (3-1, 3-2, 3-3, 3-4, 3-5, 3-6, 3-7, 3-8, 3-9, 3-10, 3-11, 3-12)
• For Chapter 3, ‘Under Pressure’ (3-13, 3-14, 3-15, 3-16, 3-17, 3-18, 3-19, 3-20)
• For Chapter 4, ‘Sink or Swim’ (4-1, 4-2, 4-3, 4-4, 4-5, 4-6, 4-7, 4-8, 4-9, 4-10, 4-11)
• For Chapter 4, ‘Sink or Swim’ (4-12, 4-13, 4-14, 4-15, 4-16, 4-17, 4-18, 4-19, 4-20)

Do not be fooled by the cartoon graphics, adorable animation and sound and the children’s book moral tale of Swampy the Alligator who’s different from the rest — Disney’s newest mobile game for the Apple iOS (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch), ‘Where’s My Water?’ is an original, mind-blowing game of logic combined with whimsy, resulting in fun, addictive gameplay.

The game stars Swampy the Alligator, who — unlike the rest of his kind — doesn’t wish to roam the sewers of the city, wallowing in dirty water and feasting on rats, no. What Swampy wants more than anything else in life is a bath and it’s up to you to redirect the water through the earth so that it ends up in his bathtub. It sounds deceivingly simple, and at first it is, but it quickly evolves as more elements are introduced such as switches and algae which grows out of control when water touches it and other liquids such as acid and sludge that can hurt just as much as they help, quickly forcing you to rely on your sense of logic and ability to foresee the consequences of your actions in order to ensure Swampy’s good hygiene.

The game also features a couple of familiar elements, but enhanced for gameplay. Where there are usually stars to collect in these types of games, ‘Where’s My Water?’ has you collecting rubber duckies (naturally). Only it’s not enough to just touch the duckies with the water, you’ll need to pump enough water through them to fill them up to collect them. Again, it sounds and looks deceivingly easy at first, but as the game progresses, you’ll need to wisely divert just enough water to cover all three duckies and Swampy’s bath.

The game also features hidden objects, or collectibles. Collect all three from each subset and you’ll unlock a bonus game which uses the accelerometer to move water around the screen to collect the bonus rubber duckies. As with regular gameplay, these too will get harder as more elements are introduced.

Collect enough rubber duckies, and you’ll unlock the next chapter. The game comes equipped with four chapters, consisting of 20 levels each at launch time, with more free updates promised along the way.

Achievements are also part of the game, my favorite currently being the OCD achievement, which I earned during one level by hitting the level restart button seven times quickly enough just to ensure I could fully clear the screen.

Having completed most of the game already, there isn’t anything negative I can point out, other than I’m going to be really sad once I run out of levels to clear. The most negative thing I can say is that I realized just a few moments ago, that I had collected so many duckies, I managed to somehow skip an entire chapter, but of course that just means more game time!

‘Where’s My Bath?’ is a rare example where the developers did everything right. From the audio and visuals (including the interactive main menu and Swampy’s reactions to things happening (or not happening)) to the gameplay to the user interface itself, which prominently features a restart level button separate from the in-game menu options. Just one thing almost worth not noting: while the game claims realistic physics, the water does appear to be a bit slow to move/react, but it doesn’t detract from the gameplay at all.

Available now on the iTunes app store, ‘Where’s My Water?’ is a virtual steal at just $.99.