Tiki Towers

Thanks to those genius geneticists, it is now a commonly known fact we share 98.6 per cent of our DNA with chimps. What remains a mystery at this point however is exactly what the remaining 1.4 per cent actually governs.

Clearly a propensity for extra hair growth, the ability to grip objects with one’s toes and a fundamental failure to appreciate the need to get up at 8am, drive to work and spend the majority of the day toiling in misery would all seem to be candidates.

If Tiki Towers (Tropical Towers on mobile) is to be believed, we can rule out those genes which govern an understanding of structural architecture or real time physics. In this game, apes prove to be adept at both constructing and navigating structures in order to conquer their environment.

The game begins with the chief chimp (that’s you, represented by a hairy hand on screen) being presented with a roaming overview of a level. There's an exit at one end, a box of monkeys at the other and a variety of obstacles in between.

Your job as the hairy hand of the chimp chieftain is to get your monkeys to the exit while collecting bonus bananas along the way.

You negotiate obstacles by building structures from sticks of bamboo - you can create makeshift bridges, swings, ladders, and even rolling balls. The control system is suitably slick: touch the screen to drag out a strut or touch a strut to remove it.

What you build depends on the obstacles you face. A gaping chasm, for example, calls for bridge building, while an awkward wall or fiery pit may require more creative construction. These materials are not unlimited, though, so as you progress your solutions will need to be more streamlined and often more precarious.

Once you’re happy with your work, you can send your monkeys rushing across with a tap of their crate. The visual cues given here are wonderfully intuitive.

Not only can you obviously see where the structure has broken, but you can also identify the strains placed on struts which turn orange, then red, when they’re placed under near terminal strain. Using this colour-coded feedback, you can implement changes to create a functioning solution.

Fortunately, you don’t have to go back to the drawing board, but can simply rewind to the editing phase and return to the structure as you had it to carry out some essential tweaking.

You can access this editing stage at any time without having to wait for the monkeys to succeed or fail, thus ensuring that the spirit of trial and experimentation isn’t hampered by tedious waiting. Whilst you definitely get stuck on occasion, the ability to attempt other levels ensures that there's always some obtainable goal within reach.

Likewise, the presentation is nothing short of excellent, with chattering monkeys swinging through vibrant multi-layered environments. They even reward you with a little dance when reaching the exit or chastising with a shrug of the shoulders when stuck.

The attention to detail runs through the little jokes in level titles and commiserations; it’s hard not to feel that you should indeed take better care of your monkeys when you’ve just plunged a few of them into a lava bath.

In the end, the true difference between us and our primate pals is the ability to craft such entertaining experiences. Tiki Towers builds a bridge between thoughtful puzzle play and casual cartoon antics. It's an utter delight, bearing the fruit of a great game.