Cut the Rope remains one of the most popular and best-loved App Store titles more than two years after its release, with ZeptoLab's sensational physics-based puzzler racking up more than 100 million downloads across platforms in the process. Expectations are unsurprisingly high for the studio's first totally new release since, but much as Pudding Monsters employs a similar aesthetic and trial-and-error approach to gameplay, these gelatinous blobs deliver their own solidly enticing experience.

Each stage begins with a handful of the titular creatures spread around a grid-based world, with a trio of stars placed in certain spots. The goal is to swipe the monsters around the stage until they create one big, collaborative beast, preferably while covering up as many of those stars as possible. Swipes send the monsters flying until they hit something on the stage, so the initial strategies typically involve finding the right pattern for moving all of them around the screen without losing one in the process.

As its 75 quick-hit stages unfold, Pudding Monsters introduces a large array of new mechanics, from sets of monsters that all move with a single swipe to frozen blocks that shatter upon impact, along with sleeping monsters, machines that generate additional blobs, and monsters separated from their necessary eyeballs. It's a lot of ground to cover within a relatively small initial slate of stages, and it feels like the game flits too quickly from one style of play to another without maximizing the use of each, or creating smart blends of multiple elements.

That will no doubt be addressed in later updates, but I think the initial experience would have been more satisfying with fewer alterations and more focus on creating challenging stages using just its most core aspects. As it is, Pudding Monsters feels a bit light and fluffy – much like the treat that inspired its moniker – though optional objectives do add a twist beyond nabbing all of the stars. Still, there's plenty of room to take what is currently an enjoyable and accessible swipe-based puzzler and give it more of a Cut the Rope-like obsessive pull.

The bottom line. Pudding Monsters might try a few too many things within a short span of levels, but its breezy puzzle action entertains while hinting at better challenges down the line.