WHERE'S MY WATER 2

I'm a pretty huge Where's My Water? fan. I've beaten every course on every iteration of the game, and it's my perfect go-to for when I have a few extra minutes to kill. Those were paid apps with meaty expansions though, and now Disney has seen fit to offer up a freemium-filled sequel. But while the IAP system, an insistence of Facebook Connect, and the freemium makeover in Where's My Water? 2 [Free] feel highly forced, it's still mostly the same old Swampy we know and love. Mostly.
Don't get too excited, as you're still going to be digging through dirt to get water to a bathtub, so not much has changed fundamentally. As always, there are three ducks in each level to collect, and this time, you pretty much need to get as many as possible to unlock level gates. Yep, unlike past iterations where you could skip levels at your leisure, you have to actually ace some levels to progress to a new set. For veterans like me it's not really an issue, but I can see more casual players getting pretty frustrated -- because after all, the beauty of the original games is the fact that you could play them at your own pace.

Let's just talk about gameplay
Instead of making this a rant, I'm going to ignore the freemium model for a few moments to talk about the good points of the game. Just like the first game, the object is to divert liquids (or steam) to the main character of the level. Swampy, the alligator star of the first game is back and still loves to take baths with the water you supply. You'll also help Allie, a female alligator who needs steam to play her steam-powered organ, and Cranky, an alligator who needs you to clean the algae from his food with purple water. As you cut through the dirt with your finger to provide the liquid a pathway to the goal, you'll also want to pass through the three rubber duckies to get a perfect score. This accomplishment in the game is referred to as "tri-ducking." 

Gameplay-wise the 100 levels on offer have a bit more variety this time around instead of your standard "water to tub" puzzles. There are now levels where you have to avoid collecting any ducks, in addition to upside-down stages, and special challenges like leading a stream of water through a constantly scrolling screen (multi-touch, a feature that's always been in the series, really shines here). The Mystery Duck levels from the original's add-on campaign also return, and are as enjoyable as ever. As a whole it's not nearly as strong as what I'd consider to be the best game in the series (that honor goes to Where’s My Mickey?), but it's still a ton of fun nonetheless.

But not all is well in Swampy-Land, as I ran into some annoyances along the way. For one, Facebook Connect is constantly in your face after every level, and it's even a lingering presence on the map screen. Sadly, Where's My Water? 2 constantly pesters you to reach out to your friends to refill your energy and even unlock more content late-game. If you absolutely hate this "feature," odds are you'll uninstall the game before you put up with it more than once -- or just outright refuse to install it.
The other potential issue is energy. Yes, an energy timer is in Where's My Water? 2. Even if you can pretty much play at your leisure early on, it's puzzling to think why, after multiple successful fully paid iterations, that Disney would inject a freemium scheme into the franchise.

At the time of this writing, there is no way to buy the game outright. Instead, the game offers an "energy increase" IAP for $16.99 (it's not even an infinite unlock!), among other power-up purchases. You absolutely don't need them as you can beat the game without them, but it's borderline offensively priced, and I'm sure some people will be suckered into it.
Where's My Water? 2 definitely needs a few improvements if it wants to reach the quality of its predecessors, most notably a strong pull-back on its aggressive IAPs. But despite the attempt at walling off its own players, there are a ton of intriguing concepts and mini-games that expand upon the Where's My Water? formula that fans will enjoy.

Ran out the hot water
There’s always an alligator, there’s always water, and there’s always dirt separating the two.  The infinite loop of Swampy’s bath time in Where’s My Water? was charming and challenging, generously packed with levels and updates that made its 99 cent price tag an absolute steal.  Its first non-spin-off, direct sequel, Where’s My Water? 2, has slashed that initial price down to nothing, but actually costs much more: players’ time, trust, and patience have been sold down the freemium river.
The good news: if you like any of Disney’s Where’s My games, there’s plenty more to love here.  Where’s My Water? 2 plays out like all of its predecessors: swipe trenches in dirt to direct water to its destination.  Along the way, you’ll need to activate switches, avoid acid, collect duckies, and complete many other puzzle-based maneuvers.  Swampy is still our primary water-target, waiting patiently for his bath to runneth over, but both Cranky and Allie have been upgraded from bonus level pack characters to main game integrations.  Cranky’s ducks and goal require acid instead of water, and Allie is still in need of steam to power her pipe organ.  Their levels now appear alongside Swampy’s, providing a refreshing change of pace for players who get bored with alligator monogamy.

 

While playing with Cranky and Allie will be a new experience to players who dropped Where’s My Water? before 2012, the basic puzzles in Where’s My Water? 2 will not be.  Very few changes have been introduced, and many levels feel more redundant than nostalgic.  There are pipes and switches, acid and quick-growing weeds, nozzles and movable platforms.  Despite the introduction of an overworld map and “locations” like the Soap Factory, every stage still takes place underground.  When playing the first iteration of a level, veteran players will rarely encounter something new.
Thankfully, every level features multiple iterations, known as Challenges.  Completing the basic version of a level will unlock the next one on the map—allowing for forward progress—as well as the first Challenge available in the finished level.  Challenges play out like a standard level, but take place on the same stage and contain special rules.  For instance, on an “Avoid It” stage variation, you must get the water/acid/steam to its destination without collecting any duckies.  On “Driller” stages, you can dig through rock but are not allowed to use switches or pipes.  And on “Melody” stages, you must collect five music notes in a specified order instead of the three rubber ducks.  There are an impressive number of other Challenge types, and all are a fantastic addition to Where’s My Water? 2; they provide fun variations on each stage as well as unique mechanical changes to the series as a whole.
The other noteworthy stage change is the fact that longer, vertical puzzles have been replaced by “Duck Rush” levels.  Duck Rush levels take place over an expansive, continuously scrolling stage that requires both forethought and quick reaction time.  They each contain six ducks instead of three, and the only goal—besides collecting ducks—is to have at least one drop of liquid remaining by the stage’s end.  While Duck Rush stages feel somewhat out of place in the consistent puzzle layout of the rest of the game, they do provide an increased challenge and yet another variation to keep things fresh.
To round out the potential difficulty of these new stages, Where’s My Water? 2 has also introduced a hint system and duckie-related power-ups.  Both hints and power-ups are awarded at certain parts of the map, or can be bought in bundles.  While expert players will likely find them unnecessary, both bonuses are extremely well-done: the hint system draws out suggested paths for strictly completing a level—not collecting all its ducks—and the power-ups make it much easier to wet the beaks of hard-to-reach fowl in different scenarios.
With its new mechanics, bonuses, and characters, Where’s My Water? 2 is technically a worthwhile addition to Disney’s dirt-gouging family of games.  That is, when you can actually play it.  The most critical, and critically disappointing, addition to the game is a slow-charge energy meter that is required to play.  Upon first starting, you might not notice the meter—it’s never mentioned or explained in any fashion, and only rears its ugly head when you run out of energy.  That probably won’t happen for the first few levels, when you are tri-ducking without retries and unlocking energy-refilling sections of the map with ease.  But trust me: it will happen, and then it will happen constantly.

Every time you play a stage in Where’s My Water? 2, you use one jolt of energy.  Every time you retry a level, you use one jolt of energy.  Every time you replay a level you’ve already completed, you use one jolt of energy.  If you are playing the game, you are using energy.  And that energy meter?  It holds nine jolts of energy at a time.  That means you can play nine stages, or try a single stage nine times, in one sitting.  Once you run out, you’ll have to wait ten minutes for a single jolt to refill.  So every ten minutes, you can play one stage.
Or, you can wait 90 minutes to play nine stages.  Or you can pay 99 cents to recharge all nine jolts immediately and another 99 cents every time it runs out!  Or—even better—you can spam your Facebook friends and get a free jolt.  Or—and I can’t believe this is a real thing—you can pay $16.99 to slightly expand your energy meter so it holds more jolts.  Not get rid of it entirely, of course; just “play more often.”
In any of the Where’s My titles, where even a challenging stage will take less than a minute to complete, this means your ratio of playtime to wait time is obscene.  This egregious energy meter is stacked on top of other ways Where’s My Water? 2 wants to take your money: the hint system, duck power-ups, and beach stages all cost money (or Facebook spam) to access beyond the few handed out in-game.  While the hints and power-ups are extremely useful and reasonable as in-app purchases, the energy meter and beach stages—which are erroneously listed as part of the “all free” launch puzzles—are a slap in the face of Swampy’s long-time supporters. 

Disney has made a number of admirable changes to Where’s My Water? 2, but these are overshadowed by the money-grubbing nature of its energy meter and pay-to-play focus.  What was once a relaxing, refreshing change of pace in the App Store is now just another poorly implemented freemium model.  It will take a lot of baths to get this stench off Swampy.