Bag It! is a great little puzzle game from Hidden Variable Studios that takes the mundane task of bagging groceries and makes it fun. Yup, it’s a game about bagging groceries and you’ll have to be careful as you don’t want to break the eggs or upset the OJ by not putting her near her sweetheart… the milk.
Gameplay
The gameplay is simple and fun in Bag It! as you basically drag groceries into the shopping bag with your finger while trying not to break everything. Just like in the grocery store, if you place something heave like the Milk on top of the Eggs they’ll break; you can actually drag a food item over another to see how it will react with the one below. If an items to heavy the objects below will look scared, and if you set it down anyway you’ll see a timer that tells you how long you’ve got till it’s squashed. You can move items around a bit in the bag if needed (but can’t take them out), and items can be rotated by grab/holding an item with one finger and tapping on the screen with a second. You’re score is calculated based on combos, like items grouped together how full you can get the bag without breaking anything.
Features
Bag It! has around 50 levels broken down into 7 different isles or worlds, and the first 3 isles have 16 levels a piece. Bag It! also offers gamers a few different types of bagging games; the first isle shows you the basics of stacking while the second isle has you crushing groceries, and the third is a puzzle mode. Bag It! runs off the 3-star system where you can earn up to three stars per level and you’ll use those stars to unlock new isles. The stars unlock levels in the first 3 modes, but the last 3 modes are unlocked with medals that you get from completing certain tasks in each level. The levels really mix things up, and some of the medals are pretty tough to get.
Verdict
Bag It! is a great puzzle game, and Hidden Variable Studios really did a great job with it the whole package. The whole game looks great and everything’s very nicely done from the groceries reactions when you crush them to the way the freezer doors open. There are some nice tongue-in-cheek moments in Bag It as well; I got a kick out of the Balanced Breakfast Combo and the “Team Eggward” stage just to name a few. If you like puzzle games or are just looking for something a little different you should definitely give Bag It! a try. There’s no free version is available at this time, but you can get the full version for $1.99