Koi Pond smacks me of that old acronym, WYSIWUG. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to deduce that an application named Koi Pond is specifically about a small pond inhabited by fish. Imagine my surprise if it featured giant transforming robots and pachinko machines? Regardless, Koi Pond is most definitely, “What You See Is What You Get.” I find it odd that I have penned numerous reviews on games for just about every console imaginable yet this is the first time I’ve had to focus on....a screensaver. Yes, that’s exactly what Koi Pond is. Those expecting some dextrous fish racing better look elsewhere.

This was one of the first applications I ever bought for my iPhone and I knew precisely what I was getting – a quick display of some of the iPhone’s graphical prowess. The developer has managed to create an app that is both pleasing to the eye and ear and though no one is going to be fooled that they are staring at a real live pond, the graphical fidelity and attention to detail is impressive.

Koi Pond is all about Zen and provides a relaxing atmosphere both visually and aurally. The app showcases an overhead view of a simulated koi pond, replete with stone floor and floating lily pads of different shapes and sizes. The view itself is locked meaning you can’t zoom, rotate, or move the camera vertically or horizontally. Amongst the lily pads swim numerous fish, each of which is nicely animated with many frames of movement. Tails and fins sway realistically as each fish navigates independently through the environment.

Adding to the scene are some nicely done shadow effects that come from both the fish and the lily pads and more importantly, the rippling surface water that shimmers throughout the scene. Although this is basically an advanced screensaver there are interactive elements included, most prescient being the water which takes advantage of the touch screen controls. Using your finger, or fingers, each light touch of the screen simulates a ripple effect, much like throwing a rock into water. If this is done near a fish they realistically react by getting frightened and quickly swimming away.

If you hold your finger down on the touch screen for an extended period of time it will attract the fish to congregate right below and virtually pretend to nibble at your appendage making your phone rumble in the process. Shaking the phone itself causes fish food to randomly be dropped into the pond which the fish can devour. It’s not exactly gaming but it does its best to simulate a real koi pond environment.

The advanced options can be accessed by pressing the bottom right hand corner of the screen. Here you can change the colour of the water with four presets: blue, green, brown and dark green. Other options include increasing or decreasing the number of fish and lily pads present or enabling or disabling the variety of sound effects such as birds chirping, gusts of wind, frogs and flies. Also included is a toggle between night and day as well as a volume control slider. As an extra feature, the lily pads can be dragged to any location you want on the screen with a simple touch and pull motion.

The sound effects are quite pleasing and the customization options giving you control of which ones to hear are welcomed although they sound incredibly tinny through the iPhone’s external speaker forcing you to wear earphones. For a screensaver that doesn’t really make much sense unless you just want to sit back and relax to the ambient noise. This however, is not the application’s fault but it’s too bad that earphones are needed to fully appreciate the work done by the developer.

Real koi ponds can cost thousands of dollars and are basically impossible to have outdoors in cold weather climates such as Canada making them a rare commodity for the rich who have the ability to just move them indoors. This application costs only $0.99 which makes it a fair deal although its only purpose is purely aesthetical. I’m not sure iPhone users will want to purchase many screensaver style applications but Koi Pond has immense polish and a pleasing demeanour. As an additional bonus, the developer, The Blimp Pilots, seem to be constantly upgrading and adding functionality to this app which deserves even more kudos.

*** out of ****

Developer: The Blimp Pilots
Version: 2.2.1.
Size: 4.4 MB

© 2009 The Galactic Pillow