Geek Beach recently put a new physics based puzzle game into the App Store. With A Monster Ate My Homework they’ve combined the physics of collision and gravity in a 3D environment that smoothly renders on the playing field.

Mobile gaming is full of physics-based titles. But it’s tough to pull yourself out of the pack and make something both fun and addictive. A Monster Ate My Homework hits both of those qualities and is a solid addition to the App Store.

Have you played Boom Blox? It’s Steven Spielberg’s foray into video games on the Wii and was a largely unnoticed great game. It featured stacked-block puzzles in which you either had to yank pieces off like Jenga or throw balls at towers to knock them over. A Monster Ate My Homework reminds me of that core mechanic in which you need to strategically toss balls at towers to knock the correct piece off of the playing field. With a tap of your finger you send a ball onto the playing field to tackle each puzzle.

The playing field is simple. There are square blocks with monster faces on them surrounding homework blocks, which you must save. So by tossing balls at the monsters, you knock them off the playing field and into the great beyond. By dragging your finger, you can rotate around the playing field to adjust your shot.

Knocking pieces off the playing field is a satisfying experience and some of the level design is quite clever. You’ll work your way through 60 levels across three zones of increasing difficulty. The game doesn’t care how many balls you use to knock the monsters off the playing field, so in that respect some of the levels are overly easy.

As you progress through levels you’ll encounter different types of monsters such as exploding bombs that have a penchant for knocking your homework out of bounds. The levels increase in difficulty as you move through the three world and eventually you’ll encounter levels with switches and important timing in order to succeed. The blocks have cute sound effects as you bounce your attacks off of them and it will take several attempts to get 3 stars on each level. You get 1 star per piece of homework liberated.

The music grows repetitive, but that doesn’t hamper the overall experience. The game is a nice addition to the App Store. It’s simple, fun and harmless. For $0.99, I highly recommend A Monster Ate My Homework to any physics-game fans out there. You can find out more about Geek Beach on their official website as well.