Disney’s ‘Where’s My Water?’ Players Get Cranky; Review and Walk-Through

You really have to hand it to Disney Interactive Studios’ mobile games unit. It would have been quite acceptable enough to have simply released ‘Where’s My Water?’ and left it at that and it would still stand today as a shining example as to how mobile apps should be made.

Yet they didn’t. In the three months that followed the game’s initial release on the Apple iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad (and subsequently Android devices), Disney released three expansion packs — sixty new levels, each offering a unique element of play, all at no additional cost. Not to mention ‘Where’s My Water? Free’ which doled out a few surprises of its own.

In the fourth month, however, Disney didn’t release a free expansion pack. Instead, it debuted a whole new form of game play which features Cranky, the nemesis to hero Swampy. An in-app purchase of $.99 unlocks all 40 levels of ‘Cranky’s Story’ (the first five levels are included free in the app’s update) and the real fun and hysteria begins.

In the included chapters, ‘Cranky’s First Course’ and ‘Hunger Pains,’ players learn quick that for all the similarities shared between Swampy and Cranky, there are just as many differences, if not more. For starters, Cranky does not like his water clean, nor does he enjoy the occasional bath. Instead, Cranky wants to eat. And eat. And eat. The only problem is that his meals are covered in algae so it’s up to the player to deliver the poisoned water down the pipe to uncover the finest delicacies the sewer has to offer. Like Swampy, Cranky likes ducks — Cranky ducks. Instead of filling ducks up with water (which are poison to Cranky ducks), the Cranky ducks are filled with poison.

Cranky is more interested in eating collectibles than he is in keeping them, so collectibles don’t exist on his side of the pipes. Instead, bonus levels are unlocked by completing challenges. For the most part, the challenges incorporate the classic Swampy levels, but turn them on their side to introduce all new ways of experiencing individual levels.

Beyond that, the game play is more or less on par with the original. Water, poison, ooze and steam all come into play as do their chemical reactions. And therein lies the added bonus: because players are already familiar with the liquids and objects, the levels waste no time in immersing the player with new puzzles which happen to include nods to their classic counterparts in some cases. I actually found many of the levels to be far more challenging this time around and thus more gratifying when solving. Cranky’s challenges were also a welcome twist. In short, the additional $.99 is the only no-brainer here. The total cost of $1.98 for what ‘Where’s My Water?’ offers is an absolute bargain, especially if Disney continues to treat its customers like gold.

As usual, we have produced video walk-throughs of the new chapters for ‘Cranky’s Story’ which are embedded below.

The first ten levels of ‘Cranky’s First Course’ – C1-1 First Dig?, C1-2 Meet Me in the Middle, C1-3 Purple Rain, C1-4 Lawn Sprinkler, C1-5 Around the World, C1-6 Alignment Issues, C1-7 Touch and Hold, C1-8 Split Ends, C1-9 Roller Coaster and  C1-10 Slideshow

The next ten levels of ‘Cranky’s First Course’ – C1-11 Boomstick, C1-12 Connect the Dots, C1-13 Chemistry Set, C1-14 Bridge Breaker, C1-15 The Long Drop, C1-16 Duck Invaders, C1-17 Must Come Down, C1-18 Spillover, C1-19 Time Bomb, C1-20 Pollution Solution

The first ten levels of ‘Cranky’s Hunger Pains’ – C2-1 Down the Stairs, C2-2 Dumbwaiter, C2-3 Recycle, C2-4 Convert ‘em!, C2-5 Rendezvous, C2-6 Push Up, C2-7 Bridging the Gap, C2-8 Spin the Dials, C2-9 Mid-air Collision, C2-10 Recontamination

The next ten levels of ‘Cranky’s Hunger Pains’ – C2-11 Volcano, C2-12 Skipping Stones, C2-13 Barricade, C2-14 Vicious Cycle, C2-15 Pipe Cleaner, C2-16 Worthless Water, C2-17 Bridge Over Troubled Waters, C2-18 Layer Cake, C2-19 Aqua Tool and C2-20 Make It, Break It

(Cranky’s Challenge walk-through coming soon)

You can download the latest version of ‘Where’s My Water?’ for Apple iOS devices here.