Pipe Mania is one of those guide the X from the start 
position to the end position via Y. X of course being anything less viscous than lead (usually) and Y being anything that can channel X (train tracks, pipe, a fuse, etc). We have seen this in various forms and still, it never gets old.
Of course, it also seems that it rarely ever evolves from the basics and this seems to hold the genre back from time to time. Pipe Mania is no exception. It does a good deal of justice to the genre but still there are certain elements of the game that irk me.
It’s certainly not a lack of game modes as Pipe Mania gives you four modes - world, arcade, bonus and classic. World is pretty much the main mode and a story-like mode. Arcade is a survival mode where the screen auto-scrolls. Bonus are mini-games and logic puzzles and Classic is, well, classic - original levels and original rules from the original game. On top of 
all that single-player action there’s also challenges via Scoreloop where you can challenge your friends to see who gets the best score.
The game also gives you achievements which come in the form of treasures (found in random spaces on each level that you must lay pipe through successfully) which give you access to the other game modes, characters and movies and more. The game has a lot to offer and for an iPhone title it’s almost overwhelming all the choice one has in it.
But let’s talk about the actual gameplay. Like I said, connect point A with B via item C. But along the way there will be obstacles, attacks, different forms of what you are transporting and a whole slew of pieces you can’t use, which brings me to a problem with the game. You can’t use all the pieces, the pieces must be placed and then when you don’t use them you get hit on points.
As if you are being punished for the game’s mechanics. Doesn’t sound very fair does it? You can bomb pieces by laying pipe over them and are only docked 25 points. If the piece remains at the end of the level you lose 50 points. This sometimes turns into bomb-fest as you destroy piece after piece waiting for a single piece you need to finish your pipeline. Talk about a drag... Their advice? Place it somewhere you might use it later. If it were that simple I wouldn’t have a problem but often, it’s not and so the player is hit on points one way or the other.
Honestly, that’s about my biggest beef with the game. It’s graphically interesting and cohesive, the sound and music aren’t too shabby and there’s a lot of value here for the price. 32 levels await you in the World mode. The arcade mode gives you two difficulties - Normal and Hard - and three speeds all for 16 levels of survival fun. Bonus has two modes - spin and match - and three board sizes, 3x3 to 5x5 and that’s for seven levels on each size for each game. Whew! That’s a lot of pipe to lay. Yes, I know that is a euphemism for something else, hence why I keep using it...pervs.
Further Screens:
