Developer: Clickgamer
Price: $0.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Device Reviewed On: iPhone 4
Graphics / Sound Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars
Replay Value Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 3.19 out of 5 stars
Just how many games are there with the word Doodle thrown in? It must be a good few hundred by now. So we come to another one, Doodle Invasion. It might not have as spot on presentation as Doodle Jump, looking much simpler but it is rather good fun, at least in short doses.
It’s quick to get to grips with. You have to stop various alien invaders landing at Doodle Bay and presumably destroying the world. To do this you have to draw sea breaker markings across the screen in order to funnel the alien invaders towards the ships who can then destroy them. The catch here is that you can only draw one breaker at a time so a careful approach is sometimes needed. It’s sometimes a little frantic but never in a stressful way.
Besides the regular invaders, a series of other creatures regularly attempt to invade. Many of these simply need a tap of a finger but it does get harder to keep track of. There are aids around though, such as warships that can fire missiles at aliens and a helicopter that fires a barrage of missiles.
It’s simple looking stuff but it’s also fairly imaginative. As you’d expect from any doodle based title, Doodle Invasion feels like you’re playing a game based on pen and paper drawings that someone’s created in an idle moment. Not in a meaningless sort of way but in an endearing manner that makes the game that little more interesting to play. It’s fun seeing someone’s imagination run wild on the screen.
Crystal integration is there with leaderboards and achievements but it would have been preferable to have something like Game Center or OpenFeint, which seems to be more commonly used by other titles.
Despite this minor niggle which is arguably more down to personal preference than anything else, Doodle Invasion isn’t bad at all. It’s perhaps not as gripping as it would like to be. After a while you’ll tire of the lack of progression other than simply beating your high score and feeling smug. It’s clearly a shallow game, however this is what helps make it an entertaining enough romp while on your daily commute. For less than a price of a cup of coffee, that’s not bad at all.
Chillingo has updated two apps from their catalogue of titles. Ice Age Deluxe: Dawn of the Dinosaurs is seeing the much improved and sought after Retina display upgrade. But Guerrilla Bob? Well, this announcement comes with a lot more than just improved visuals.
Guerrilla Bob now packs in wi-fi co-op action so that players can team up across several platforms. You’ll be able to pull each other up by the boot straps on your iPhone, iPod, Mac or PC. This kind of cross-platform play is mind blowing. We’re giddy with geek anticipation.
Beyond just co-op, this update also includes Retina support, two new characters, faster app switching, Game Center support and improved controls and balancing. All of that makes this jump to version 1.3 well worth the wait.
There are, however, some hanger-ons suggesting that this title still lacks a definitive, true version of online multiplayer. By that, we think they mean one that doesn’t require a wi-fi connection. We’re not magicians engineers, but we assume that the wi-fi necessity comes from the fact that the folks from Chillingo don’t want to see their product lagging out due to network issues. Who wants to be in the middle of some highly humorous combat only to see it falter because of some less than perfect data reception? No one.
But, to those folks that are still somehow disappointed, Chillingo has offered up a sacrifice. Guerrilla Bob is currently on sale for just $0.99. If you’re unfamiliar with Guerrilla Bob, well, just know that it’s positively ridiculous. And we mean that in the most wonderfully complimentary ways. See for yourself with a trailer tailored specifically for this update below.
Developer: Clickgamer
Price: $0.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Device Reviewed On: iPhone 4
Graphics / Sound Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars
Replay Value Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 3.88 out of 5 stars
Spotting a ridiculously cutesy looking platformer about an elephant called Bob, I couldn’t resist loading up Clumsy Bob. Then I spotted that word ‘accelerometer’. I’m rather wary of any game relying solely on the accelerometer. While some games succeed wonderfully, its implementation can make or break a title. Sometimes the accelerometer controls are just too darn sensitive and the experience becomes infuriating beyond words.
In the case of Clumsy Bob though, the controls are perfect, just perfect. Any subsequent failings are purely down to your inability to time the jump, not because of any finnicky control system. It makes for a great experience. The idea is simple. You bounce across the screen, carefully leaping from tiny cloud to tiny cloud, all with an aim to gain the highest score. As you bound along, you can collect various items to aid you. Golden coins give you extra points, umbrellas enable you to hover for a brief time and rockets send you flying across the screen. It’s not all plain sailing for Bob though, there are rats, snakes and even falling anvils out to get you which you have to carefully dodge.
The experience feels quite calming though. Knowing that the worst that happens is you start again doesn’t feel so bad, after all it’s a fun experience throughout. Plus you can go at your own pace, flying through the platforms or carefully bouncing between them. There’s no way of completing the game, just accruing higher and higher scores. The Twitter and Facebook support means that you can compete with your friends easily. There’s crystal support too but perhaps OpenFeint or GameCenter support would have been better, purely for the sake of not forcing people to sign up to more services. It’s not compulsory at least.
Clumsy Bob is a really enjoyable little game. It’s also the kind of game that you’ll find yourself playing for what feels like 5 minutes when it’s actually an hour or more. Praise indeed. Do try to not feel so bad when poor clumsy Bob falls down once again though, he’s so cute you can’t help but feel sorry for him.
Developer: CHILLINGO
Price: $0.99
Version Reviewed: 1.1
Device Reviewed On: iPod Touch
Graphics / Sound Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Replay Value Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 2.94 out of 5 stars
Hooga is a side-scrolling adventure in the 16-bit style. It’s the adventure of a caveman, out to save his cavewoman from the baddies. The game reminded me a lot of the old Bonk adventures on the Nintendo consoles … except I enjoyed Bonk’s adventures, whereas I really couldn’t get into Hooga. The game’s tagline is, “Are you ready for a new era?” But there’s surprisingly little that’s new here. It’s a by the numbers side-scroller that doesn’t impress.
The best part of the game is probably the graphics, which are bright and cartoony and have some appeal. They’re not necessarily well-animated, though, with most monsters — and Hooga himself — exhibiting a bit of chopiness as they go. It doesn’t help that everything shuffles along, including the hero, plodding through the levels without even an option to run forward.
Hooga plays on all the standard caveman stereotypes — knuckle-dragging, fur-toga-wearing, stone-wielding ape-man making his way through a prehistoric landscape full of dinosaurs, giant birds, and plenty of neolithic stone. You get the expected platforming levels — ice, fire, desert, water — and the expected upgrades — more life, newer weapons, etc. There’s nothing wrong with this, but nothing terribly memorable or clever about it, either.
The controls are also a bit of a mess. Hooga’s primary means of acting is through jumping and double-jumping — to grab vines, spin attack, “parachute” down, etc. The problem is, the double-tap-and-hold required for many of these moves doesn’t register so well. Maybe it’s a small tap point, such that any inaccuracy or sliding will lose contact with it; I don’t know. All I know is that I routinely stopped spinning mid-attack, fell off of a lot of vines, and plummeted in mid-parachute more times than I cared to.
Honestly, here’s Hooga in a nutshell: it’s playable, but not original. If you like side-scrolling adventures and have played through the better titles out there, Hooga, with its decent length and capable game play, might scratch your itch. But I’d wait for it to go free (which it probably will) before picking it up.
Developer: Chillingo
Price: $0.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Graphics / Sound Rating: 3.9 out of 5 stars
Game Controls Rating: 3.7 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 3.6 out of 5 stars
Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Overall Rating: 3.68 out of 5 stars
It seems like a no-brainer to have a text based fighting game on a mobile device. People are always trying to get faster and faster at texting, and what better way than to fight an enemy on the way. Even better, with texting as the main form of control, nobody can complain about an odd fighting game control scheme. It’s brilliant!
As a fighting game though, the need for speed is compounded on the fact that you have an opponent fighting against you. Still, the focus on the game, in my opinion, should still be on getting faster and faster at texting. In this sense, TXT Fighter is a bit of a mixed bag. It will make you a faster texter if you keep plugging away at it, but it has some issues that seemed confusing to me, and I’m definitely a more grizzled iOS gamer than most.
The basis of text fighter is simple. There is a punch word to type that does little damage, a kick that does a bit more damage, and a special button that does a whole bunch of damage, but is only activated once you build up enough special attack points. These are the obvious attacks, there are others that you are supposed to discover on your own. While you are in your battle, the less accurate you are in your typing, the less damage you’ll do.
Slow and steady, in this case, does not win the race. Even on the normal difficulty you have to type fairly fast to keep up. Fast enough in fact that there is little opportunity to figure out these special moves that are so elusive. With not much animation or difficulty diversity, the game really depends on a wide array of words to spell, and this is where the game falls short. Even after playing for 10-15 minutes, you’ll see the same words over an over again. It’s not a real disaster, but I would like to see a much larger word bank in the future.
For a text fighting game, TXT Fighter does a pretty good job at keeping the interest up. The graphics and sounds are entertaining, and the fighting elements work alright, but it’s definitely not perfect. The fighting diversity (power moves) need to be more obvious, and the word bank needs to be larger for me to say that it’s a must buy.
It’s quick to get to grips with. You have to stop various alien invaders landing at Doodle Bay and presumably destroying the world. To do this you have to draw sea breaker markings across the screen in order to funnel the alien invaders towards the ships who can then destroy them. The catch here is that you can only draw one breaker at a time so a careful approach is sometimes needed. It’s sometimes a little frantic but never in a stressful way. 
:: ACTION INJECTION
In the case of Clumsy Bob though, the controls are perfect, just perfect. Any subsequent failings are purely down to your inability to time the jump, not because of any finnicky control system. It makes for a great experience. The idea is simple. You bounce across the screen, carefully leaping from tiny cloud to tiny cloud, all with an aim to gain the highest score. As you bound along, you can collect various items to aid you. Golden coins give you extra points, umbrellas enable you to hover for a brief time and rockets send you flying across the screen. It’s not all plain sailing for Bob though, there are rats, snakes and even falling anvils out to get you which you have to carefully dodge. 
Hooga is a side-scrolling adventure in the 16-bit style. It’s the adventure of a caveman, out to save his cavewoman from the baddies. The game reminded me a lot of the old Bonk adventures on the Nintendo consoles … except I enjoyed Bonk’s adventures, whereas I really couldn’t get into Hooga. The game’s tagline is, “Are you ready for a new era?” But there’s surprisingly little that’s new here. It’s a by the numbers side-scroller that doesn’t impress. 
Hooga plays on all the standard caveman stereotypes — knuckle-dragging, fur-toga-wearing, stone-wielding ape-man making his way through a prehistoric landscape full of dinosaurs, giant birds, and plenty of neolithic stone. You get the expected platforming levels — ice, fire, desert, water — and the expected upgrades — more life, newer weapons, etc. There’s nothing wrong with this, but nothing terribly memorable or clever about it, either.
As a fighting game though, the need for speed is compounded on the fact that you have an opponent fighting against you. Still, the focus on the game, in my opinion, should still be on getting faster and faster at texting. In this sense, TXT Fighter is a bit of a mixed bag. It will make you a faster texter if you keep plugging away at it, but it has some issues that seemed confusing to me, and I’m definitely a more grizzled iOS gamer than most.
Comments