Squids gives you four characters to start and each one has their roles, from healer to scout. As you accomplish levels objective, like by killing everyone, or reaching the designated map point, etc, You gain pearls which you can use to buy hats and other upgrades for your squids. You also unlock new characters to choose from, and while you can only ever have four in a level, choosing from a larger pool adds another layer of strategy. This is where the IAPs come in. You may purchase pearls from the store for real money. A have found this totally unnecessary unless you are very impatient and are not willing to spend time playing the game. I haven’t found a need to grind, or replay, old levels in order to purchases items I needed.

The campaign is twenty-one levels long and there are also a couple of bonus levels that are set up with a halloween theme. Each level offers a three star rating for finding the secret star in each level, not losing a squid, and for the number of turns you took. Squids offers Openfeint with online game saving, and GameCenter support. This fun game is all wrapped up in a very high quality graphic and sound package. The production value reminds me of much high profile game developers like Glu or Chillingo.

Squids is currently on sale for $.99 so take a look at these screenshots and don’t make the same mistake I did by passing this gem up.