TouchArcade.ru

Dragons Odyssey Frane [ $11.99 ] has the distinction of being the only game that makes me want to reach out and pinch its metaphorical cheek. Not only is it kinda adorable, it’s also all sorts of loveable. Like the fawning, mud-encrusted niece that is never short of questions about unicorns, Exe-Create’s port of their PC-based action-RPG title has a way of making you tilt your head and go “D’awww”.

Actually, before we get any further, the whole ‘action-RPG’ bit needs to be clarified a bit. Those expecting an assembly of eccentric party members, a varied set of skills to manage and all of the other traditional tropes may be a touch disappointed. Dragons Odyssey Frane doesn’t actually have all that, per se. In some ways, the game bears more of a resemblance to a laid-back shoot ‘em up than anything else.

The protagonist, a tussled-haired boy by the name of Kunah, is in charge of all the melee stuff. With every tap of a button, he either swings a yoyo, flails with a dagger or beats on things with an element-driven punch. Those with a preference for ranged attack will have to rely on his loud female companion Riel. She’s the one who inunduates enemies with glowing projectiles every time you hit yet another button.

What’s interesting about all this is the fact that hitting the melee button will cause Kunah to lock onto targets within the screen, thereafter allowing Riel’s attacks with greater ease. Riel, while a separate character that can go into ‘Rage’ mood (when she loses it, she will, quite literally, bounce Kunah across the screen and clear it of enemies that way) if you permit her to be smacked around too many times, neither has a health bar nor real equipment slots of her own. The only customization you’re allowed with her (from what I’ve seen, at any rate) is the ability to change her attack.

Combat follows a similar theme. While there are a fair number of enemies that will just barrel dumbly into you, others will, well, shoot relatively blindly at you. The bosses have slightly more variety. From a trio of sisters to a monstrous, mirage-inducing sand worm, they’ll have you ducking away, chasing weak spots, dodging projectiles and flinging attacks of your own.

Of course, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Dragons Odyssey Frane is considerably more story-driven than most of its brethren in the App Store. The gist of the tale is this: you play as a responsible, mildly perverted boy called Kunah. When his angelic mentor Escude goes missing, he and his friend Riel (both of whom are actually dragons) gain permission from God (Yes, with the capital G and beard and all) to go look for her. Once accorded that sacred duty, they descend onto the mortal plane and begin their quest. Pedestrian as it all sounds, it’s actually rather amusing.

For one, Kunah and Riel actually act their age. More often than not, they stumble and they stammer and they speak out of turn. Many of the denizens of the game treat them the way anyone would treat a precocious child. The God portrayed here is also far from dignified. In one memorable instance, he actually disguises himself as a rather… conspicuous piece of wooden furniture in an attempt to surprise our protagonists.

Unapologetically goofy, Dragons Odyssey Frane is filled with silliness. There are star-crossed feline lovers, a military man with a retinue of giant hamster-like things, and familiar stereotypes played to perfection. For those in search of a serious plot line, Dragons Odyssey Frane will not be your game. For those willing to accommodate its many eccentricities, though, this charming piece has a lot to offer.

Aside from the main storyline (things generally follow the usual ‘get quest, investigate dungeon, defeat big boss’ format), you’ll also be able to engage in more domestic duties. Unlike most RPG protagonists, our dynamic duo are not homeless itinerants. In the beginning, Kunah will actually build the two of them a rather cozy-looking abode and it is within the confines of their home that you will be able to tinker about in a makeshift workshop and mess about a kitchen.

While not particularly deep (it generally consists of combining two items together), the crafting system is oddly satisfying. I have a nagging suspicion that there’s no wrong way to do things here. If bread and rice can produce ‘bread sushi’ as opposed to a virtual eye-roll from the game, anything is possible.

(A nifty detail: people will slowly assemble a village around your heroes’ residence as time passes by. Eventually, you’ll be able to purchase rare equipment, plant vegetables and take part in a few random quests.)

While hardly cutting-edge, the visuals in Dragons Odyssey Frane are rather endearing. I’m not the biggest fan of their character portraits but the sprite work and the tiny, animated details (the game features one of the most attractive d-pads I’ve ever seen) are all things I can get behind. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the grating, cringe-inducing voice acting. By the end of the first spoken line, I had turned it off in mortification.

Aside from those small issues though, Dragons Odyssey Frane is rather hard to dislike. The characters and the world will slowly grow on you. Combat is brief and brutal, yet satisfying. Personally, I haven’t tried courting any of the characters just yet (it looks like it’s possible but I couldn’t bring myself to even ponder the idea given how young the protagonists look) but the option is present for those interested in such things. If you’re willing to put up with occasional stereotypes, loads of silliness and the relatively high price tag, I can’t recommend it enough for a weekend change of pace.

TouchArcade Rating:

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Late last week The New York Times published an op-ed debate titled, “Hip, or About to Break a Hip,” a discussion about whether 45 year-old skaters are “embarrassing and risky or inspiring and life-affirming?” Opinions ranged from “inspiring and life-affirming,” to “… do something productive: become an ultimate fighter, get your G.E.D., date an 18-year old.” Um, wow, guys.

Appropriate then is the release of Brisbane-based IV Motion’s Penny Time [$0.99 / Free ], which flies in the face of that rather unnecessary conversation. Shorn of the skating genre’s mechanical trappings, the game is allowed to focus on the sport’s anarchistic roots. Its reply, “Who gives a #$%*?”

Penny Time announces its care-free absurdity with a series of vignettes that see the player character using a Penny skateboard, crashed like a meteorite from the heavens, to freeze time and subsequently summon some spirit animals in the form of a pig, dodo and porpoise. Right. So, the player is off on his or her quest to skate through a series of time-frozen environments with the aid of the aforementioned Ghost Dodo.

Play is similar to rhythm runners like Tomena Sanner [ $1.99 ] and Bit.Trip Runner. The player proceeds left to right, clearing obstacles by swiping when rolling over a series of white (up), blue (left) and yellow (down) targets. Levels consist of three sections: a standard area where one acquires points based on timing of swipes, a multiplier section, and then a “cash-in” portion where the player is given the opportunity to bank their multiplied points, or take them on into the next area and risk bailing and losing the combo.

Touch controls are a little dodgy. There are a handful of times each run where I go flipping over a guardrail or a child or something because the game’s missed my inputs. This is sometimes exacerbated not only by how unforgiving the game can be (I’ve often hit my trick on the periphery of a target only to tumble into a sad pile), but by the minimalism of the flat, untextured 3D models. It borders on gorgeous abstraction in the vein of a Katamari Damacy, but the environments are so busy it’s often difficult to tell exactly what’s ahead. Case in point, during a particularly funny intro I held the iPhone up for my girlfriend, sitting behind me on the couch, who responded, “I can’t see… it just looks like a bunch of shapes.” Indeed.

That in mind, I’m not sure that it’s going to have much of a following among the leaderboard junkies. But, in addition to Game Center leaderboards, the game has a bevy of character and board customization options, along with the requisite Facebook and Twitter support, 84 achievements and a fantastic OST.

A rhythm game lives or dies by the quality of its tunes, and electronic artist and fellow Brisbanite Hunz has crafted a score among the best on the platform. A warm, varied slice of electronica, it’s up there with the Groove Coaster [ $2.99 ] and Beat Sneak Bandit [ $2.99 ] soundtracks, well worth the dollar the game costs. It’s a trump card that staves off mediocrity in what is otherwise an “okay” game, an intelligent pairing that propelled me along on my quest to count the black cats littering the next area. Note: this game has its share of black cats.

With a smart few stylistic choices, IV Motion have made a fine if sometimes frustrating little game, worth the low price of entry. Like the skateboard brand it advertises, it is “designed and built to look good, perform well, and exceed your expectations.” A little rougher around the edges maybe, but a ridiculous, ageless thing that can be enjoyed by anyone. And that’s okay.

TouchArcade Rating:

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In January of last year, Liv Games’ debut title Legendary Wars [$0.99 / $1.99 (HD)] really redefined the side-scrolling castle defense genre. It had a huge cast of interesting heroes and enemies, a fantastic art style, tons of humorous dialogue, and a huge single-player campaign to play through. But what really made it stand out was how it used so many different iterations of the strategy defense formula, making it feel like many different games in one and a fresh experience throughout.

Exactly a year to the day after the release of Legendary Wars, Liv Games put out its pseudo-sequel Monster Wars [ Free ], which we really liked in our review. It took basically everything from the first game but re-imagined it from the bad guys’ perspective, letting you play with the monsters as the protagonists. Also, it dumped heaps of new content, improved visuals, and lots of new odds and ends that made it an even better overall experience.

Today, you can grab Monster Wars for free for a limited time. In addition, Liv Games has sent over some details of what to expect of the next new 1.2 update which will be hitting soon, along with a teaser image of some of the new tier 4 armor:

-11 New AWESOME Tier 4 Monster Armors! Each with a more powerful special designed to destroy heroes!
-Monster Arena! 12 New Challenges and 2 new bosses!
-NEW LEVEL featuring the Unisis boss (Pegasus Unicorn)
-New Sky Angel boss in 6-2 and Arena.
-New ‘Hero” Difficulty designed for Tier 4 Monsters.
-New Fear status that causes heroes to get scared, miss and run away!
-11 New Tier 4 Achievements and 1 new Leaderboard.

Definitely don’t miss the chance to grab Monster Wars while free, and if you like the game and find yourself curious about what it’s like for the heroes in the game, then definitely check out Legendary Wars at some point too.

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On this week’s episode of The TouchArcade Show, we actually have to turn the car around in order to say something off-topic. At top, we discuss the arrival of the TouchArcade app [ Free ] and touch on its upcoming Universal-ness. Later, we dive into the latest, the best, and the hottest in iOS. From NOVA 3 to Pocket Planes, we’ve got your steamy games discussion covered. And in our front page section, we spend a good amount of time on Rovio’s latest moves and Team Meat’s latest stream of gripes.

If you’d like to give us a listen, go ahead and do so. Just hit up one of the handy links below. Additionally, you can subscribe to us on iTunes and Zune to get our latest episodes the second they hit the ‘net.

iTunes Link: The TouchArcade Show
Zune Marketplace: TouchArcade.com Podcasts
RSS Feed: The TouchArcade Show
Direct Link: TouchArcadeShow-051.mp3, 31.0MB

A couple of house-cleaning notes before the show notes: we fixed our audio issue from last week, so feel free to keep your iPod at a normal volume all the way through. Also, our official Minecraft server is a real thing. E-mail the podcast if you want in, and I’ll hit you back.

GAMES

• Pocket Planes
• NOVA 3 [$6.99]
• Penny Time [$.99]

FRONT PAGE

• Rovio Confirms That It Has Acquired ‘Casey’s Contraptions’
• Team Meat Goes Full Blast On F2P

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London-based design studio ustwo created a heck of a game in Whale Trail, but it’s failing as a commercial entity. It’ll never hit the App Store top 10. The face of its bubbly and wide-eyed mascot, Willow, will never grace products like panties or fruit snacks. And at its current pace, it’ll be awhile before it generates a decent profit.

The studio has huge expectations that aren’t being met, and just based on trends, it’s clear that Whale Trail will continue not meeting them. It’s a failure in this life. But will it be one in its next? Again, ustwo is spending money on Whale Trail, giving it a second wind via creative mouth-to-mouth. It’s retooling and redesigning the oddball flying game as a free-to-play title in a high-bandwidth effort to attract the casual audience that the original version failed to reach, but managed to brush.

The hope is that this model, alongside some fresh content, will finally put the game over the top and onto hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of phones and tablets across the world. It’s a crazy plan. Crazy, however, is kinda its project lead’s thing.

On Conversion, Failure, And Journeys

I’ve been speaking with ustwo co-founder Mills about the upcoming transformation. Mills is like a bizarro Clint Eastwood. In the face of adversity he has the same grit and air of determination, but instead of a cowboy hat and a killer squint Mills rocks a long, flowing red wig and eyeglasses with thick, black frames. When he talks to you, even via e-mail, you feel his warmth, energy, and passion. He’s funny, too, and you see a lot of his brand of humor in his game. As we talk, he refuses to call the original Whale Trail a failure despite being able to produce evidence indicating as much. Instead, he calls it a “succailure” and the process of making it a F2P title a “journey.”

“Whale Trail was our first proper game release,” Mills tells TouchArcade. “Full heart, full passion. The launch was a success for our studio, showering loads of eyeballs on us but something didn’t quite click. Although we were hitting 12,000 downloads a day at launch, it tailed off pretty quick.”

In fact, Whale Trail has just hit over 188,000 total sales, and it shifts around 250 units a day across Android and iPhone and iPad. These kind of numbers would be enough for a lot of studios, but ustwo spent oodles of cash on the game. It needed Whale Trail to be up there with the Angry Birds and Fruit Ninjas and the Cut the Ropes of the world.

How those titles manage to stay up top is a matter of debate. Mills doesn’t believe that featuring, reviews, or exposure brings in new downloads. He thinks that word of mouth is now driving sales. As evidence, he notes that the game’s trailers still get around 500 new views a day and the music video for the theme used in the game drives interest, too. Riding on a wave of featuring, however, Whale Trail managed to light up the charts for a short period. Mills shot us the following handy chart, for those of you into the numbers:

Learning about why the game didn’t keep selling at its initial, breakneck pace is an important component of its upcoming transformation. Mills is soaking up everything he can. He frequently frames this entire ordeal as a learning experience.

“We went back to the drawing board and dove deep into the blue waters to understand why Whale Trail wasn’t quite able to take off. We had made a wonderful experience but there wasn’t enough ‘replay’ value in the current game. The new challenge levels added in iteration release two and three helped, but we needed more. Much more,” he adds.

The new version of the game is, indeed, functionally different. As you collect bubbles and travel, you’ll collect an in-game currency called Krill. With Krill, you can buy new powers, “useable treats,” costumes for Willow and its five new playable friends. If you want this stuff without the grind, you can buy Krill straight-up.

“The game is so much better. Players are now in full control of their destiny and each play rewards them. This was missing before,” he says.

If you’ve already purchased Whale Trail, Mills says you’ll receive a “BIG” bag of Krill when you update to the new version. Additionally, you’ll receive a message designed to make you feel “special.” Mills worries about how the current install base is going to react to this massive change, since the regular version will essentially die after this update. Perhaps that’s why this message to fans will be “like finding a bag of money in your house that you can use to pimp it right up 50 style” or “like finding a bag of candy that is so sweet, yet so sticky.”

When I bring up failure, Mills says I have a point, but he describes the experience so far as a “journey.” His studio has had opportunities to sell off the IP or actually make money, but ustwo as a whole is more interested in learning at this point.

“You can look at it as a failure, but I see it as journey,” Mills says. “Each iteration of Whale Trail has created a new buzz and has engaged the players more. It’s been a big lesson for me especially in regards to releasing something I wanted and releasing something that the majority of players want. We were very successful at creating buzz, we were very open about the whole experience and the story of Whale Trail will now be told via Penguin,” he tells us. He means the publishing company, not an actual penguin.

“We had two Whale Trail acquisition offers for the game as it currently stands now, but we were not interested in money. We were interested in better understanding what we could do to make the game better. I couldn’t walk away from it now, knowing it was not the game we wanted it to be. The game we have since built and are testing now with players is the game we should have released back then but didn’t realize it at the time.”

Even though the Whale Trail flopped, Mills notes some positives. It gave his studio new business opportunities, a higher-profile in the development community, and a lot of good will. These things, however, aren’t going to make new Whale Trail sail. A balance of IAP and fun mechanics are the only thing that’ll save it.

“I want to know more about free-to-play,” Mills says. “We are not being aggressive with the monetization potential. Players need never spend, but the joy they feel should allow the game to be pretty viral. We get a small social virility through Twitter right now, but the potential at the higher numbers is unreal. I guess the plan is for Willow to find some real Whales!”

We’ll have to see if the new version of Whale Trail hits the heights that Mills thinks it can reach. Regardless if it does or not, it’s going to be hard to call this iteration a failure. To Mills, success is all about what you do as you try to succeed.

“We didn’t set out to make something generic. Success is about crafting something you believe in and telling that story, granted it may never be a smash hit as the very concept of a little fat flying whale called Willow who lives in a psychedelic land is too far out for many to stomach, but we made something we are so proud of.”

We’ll have hands-on impressions in the near future.

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When you truly adore a game, sequels can be a scary thing. Sure, it’s more of what you love—but what if they mess it up? What if they abandon all the things you love for the sake of novelty? Well, Defender Chronicles [$1.99 / $2.99 / $4.99 (HD)] fans, let us put your fears to rest. We’ve had a chance to spend some time with Defender Chronicles II, and it seems to have everything the original had to offer. And every little bit of it is bigger, better, and sexier.

I spent the summer of 2009 consumed by the original. I had a brand new 3GS and pages of games, but Defender Chronicles – Legend of the Desert King was the one that devoured my time. Its mix of vertical tower defense and RPG conventions was completely irrestistable, and Gimka Entertainment and Menara Games propped it up with massive updates that added to its already substantial content. Defender Chronicles II is looking like it will contain that same potential for time investment, so you might want to clear your schedule in advance.

This game is leagues beyond its predecessor in terms of visual appeal, and that’s an achievement—as we pointed out way back in our review, Defender Chronicles was a looker in its time. But now every unit is more detailed and every animation is more fluid. And crisp—Retina support is in for iPhone, though apparently not for iPad. The game lives up to the rose-colored vision you may have of the original, but it’s much more refined, more up-to-date.

The gameplay has been similarly preserved. You’ll still spend your time turning flags into guilds and upgrading them through tiers of units, archers to rangers, squires to cavaliers. Strategy seems more important than ever before, with enemy units that take advantage of every potential weakness in your defense. Height and range are the biggest considerations as you scroll around massive, multi-tiered 2D maps. There are quite a few of those this time around, and they hit an almost Escher-esque level of complexity pretty quickly.

There isn’t much that’s changed outright, really. Voice actor George Ledoux returns to impress us with his Sean Connery impression, though he also pulls off an impressive lizardman. Heroes Melwen and the General return, but this time they’re accompanied by two new friends: Lovell and Elwyn, an archer and priest. The brand-new story of the heroes and their defence of Athelia against the Orcs and Forsaken is told through gorgeous comic-book cutscenes once more.

From our brief time with the game, it really seems like you’re going to be able to put in a ludicrous numbers of hours. There’s so much here for the player that wants to go deep, with heroes to level up and customize, hundreds of artifacts to locate and five difficulty levels and game modes to work through. The difficulty curve also feels a bit steeper, so if you’re already familiar with the game you shouldn’t be underwhelmed. If you’re feeling particularly cocky, you’ll be able to challenge yourself with a huge list of Game Center achievements and leaderboards.

Ultimately, it seems like Defender Chronicles II will be the perfect sort of sequel. It updates already excellent gameplay for a new generation of devices, and brings in all sorts of improvements in the process. It’s hard to imagine any Defender Chronicles fans being disappointed, and folks that are new to the series should be in for a treat. We’ll be taking a closer look at the game over the next couple weeks, and we’ll be back with our review after it hits the App Store on May 24th. In the meantime, the developers are posting regular previews in our discussion thread, so take a peek if your appetite isn’t already whetted enough.

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If you’re looking to spend at least one more dollar in THQ’s so-so wrestling game, WWE WrestleFest [$2.99 / HD], there’s no better time than now. A new IAP pack that includes a new arena and former and past crowd-pleasers Sexual Chocolate, Daniel Bryan, Edge, Mr. Perfect, and Eddie Guerrero is available for purchase.

THQ is branding this as the “Champions Pack,” which strikes us as kind of funny. Is it even possible to name a popular wrestler who hasn’t earned a belt or two over his surely-800 year career? Even Shamrock won championships. Shamrock, man. Anyway, if you’re interested in WrestleFest we highly suggest you read some reviews and community thoughts and check out the demo [Free / HD Free] before diving in. It’s definitely a mixed bag, and for those of you keep track at home, it still doesn’t support iCade for whatever reason.

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One of the world’s best CCGs on mobile, Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer [$.99], is now better looking and it’s packing more content. In a recent update, developer Incinerator Studios added retina support for iPad, as well as three new IAP card packs — Return of the Fallen, Storm of Souls, and an aptly named promotional pack called Promo Pack 1. It has also dropped in an “in-app purchase” manager, which allows you to restore, as well as buy, cards from within the app.

If this sounds good, go ahead and update Ascension. You’ll notice some new tweaks, too: fast-app switching is now supported and a new 28-day online game timer round out what is sounding like a pretty sweet update for the game’s most dedicated fans. It’s nice when this happens, right?

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For as many App Store games that I eyeball on a daily basis, I admit that something that has a lot of visual pop or a very distinct style will always catch my eye. Looks don’t always equal quality though, and I’ve been wooed by many an attractive looking title only to be disappointed when the gameplay didn’t quite follow through.

This is not the case with My Little Hero [ $0.99 ]. There are many titles out there that feel like iPhone games, but My Little Hero is not one of them. It has that shine that is evocative of games on a larger scale, and you’ll notice it from the title screen onward. It drops you into the role of a brave young boy whose friend Pinky (note: Pinky is your favorite stuffed rabbit) is kidnapped by the Boogeyman and spirited away into your bedroom closet. What will you do to save him? Why, don a cape and a helmet and follow him in there, of course.

Gameplay is viewed from a 3/4 top down perspective and will remind you of Zelda in under a minute. It’s not just the whimsy of the style, but the layouts of the worlds and the movements of the enemies as well. As you search for Pinky, you’ll navigate you way through forests, swamps, deserts and eventually make it to the Boogeyman’s nest. Each of these areas is open world, although there is a clear path you can follow through each of them if you’re not in an exploring mood. The worlds have plenty of little sub-destinations on a cutely drawn world map, so it will take you some time to plow your way through while stabbing things with your wooden sword.

When you kill enemies (which are all cute, by the way), you’ll be rewarded with buttons, which can be saved to buy things later such as lollipops that will restore you to full health. Later down the line, you’ll score items as well, such a a trusty flashlight. My favorite part of exploring these worlds was saving my game, as I did so by approaching a little white nightstand that looks just like the one in my bedroom and pulling the light on the bedside lamp. It’s the kind of touch that makes you go “awwww” – and this game is chock full of them.

It’s hard to complain about much in My Little Hero, as it really stands out in the genre, but there was one thing I didn’t like and that was the absence of music in the levels. As adorable as the game is, I found myself imagining a silly soundtrack to go with it, and I felt its absence. The sound effects in the levels are great and just what you expect to go with the overall tone, but I think I would have enjoyed my journey more if I could habe bopped along to some tunes.

The other small detriment I noticed was that the level design felt a bit repetitive after a while. To counter this somewhat I tried playing it in bite-sized sessions so I didn’t burn out too much. It’s not poorly designed, mind you, but when something looks this standout, you expect it to come through that way on all levels, and I think I could have fallen madly in love with it if it provided a little more variety.

That being said, My Little Hero is still a fantastic game, and I had a great time playing it. What it’s missing in variety it makes up for with heaps of charm, and for the amount of content you get, it’s worth way more than a buck. The developers also promise more levels in the future, so eventually you’ll have even more worlds to conquer. If you even remotely loved Costume Quest or similar action adventure games, you won’t want to pass on My Little Hero.

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Like most 2D platformer stars, Mr. Pop of Frenzy Pop [$0.99 / $0.99 (HD)] enjoys long walks on the beach, scouring levels for hidden items, and running and jumping through a series of trap-infested environments. Fortunately, the orange soda bottle’s bag of tricks distinguishes itself by extending quite a bit deeper than just running and jumping.

Throwing in elements from other popular platformers like League of Evil along with a fizzy maneuver all his own, Mr. Pop can wall-jump his way to greater heights, grind down walls to safety, and roll under spinning buzz saws and other hazards. The shades-wearing orange soda bottle also comes equipped with Pop Power. By holding the PP button in the lower right corner of the screen, Mr. Pop flips his top and fires fizzy bubbles, rocketing upward at super speed.

Passing levels requires you to master and seamlessly flow between maneuvers. Hop a saw blade, roll through tunnels, then alternate between floating and falling by using Pop Power in measured bursts so you don’t hurtle upwards and impale yourself on the blades above, nor drop onto the blades below; then grind down a wall and quickly bound down to safety before getting ready to mix and match maneuvers through the next stretch of sharp objects.

Mr. Pop’s defining trait is his Sonic-like speed. With the slightest tap of a virtual arrow, the carbonated hero goes from standstill to sprint. While Pop’s speed meshes with the rest of his slick move set to make you feel like a level-clearing ninja when plans go well, they often don’t. Most stages unleash scrolling traps like boulder-sized snowballs, blocks studded with the worst kinds of jaggies, and massive bosses, all chasing you across the screen or through an entire level. High-speed chases and picking my way through long spans of traps wouldn’t pose much of a problem if I had a proper controller, but virtual buttons infamous for their lack of precision often made some romps more frustrating than fun.

Touchy physics exacerbated my issues. Mr. Pop’s zero-to-sixty-in-.02-seconds momentum makes levels fly by, giving you little time to react to impending traps but no chance to slow down with something barreling down from behind. Again, that’s not so bad in and of itself. It was the inherent imprecision of non-tactile controls combined with the too-fast speed that often turned many levels into rinse-and-repeat exercises of: die, add the trap that did me in to a list of obstacles, then call up the whole level from memory and hope I can press each button just so in order to pass.

Buttons do respond when you press them dead on, but the control scheme itself occasionally hiccups. Left and right arrows sit in the left corner, jump and roll sit below PP on the right; but each set is fused together, so you’ll wind up pressing one when you meant the other. Standing still next to a wall then pressing jump makes Mr. Pop perform a wall jump if the last arrow button you pressed was in the direction of the wall—which, in most platformers, is usually the case.

Not exactly a move you want to perform when you’re hugging a wall on a narrow ledge adjacent to a bed of spikes. Holding the jump button during wall jumps registers as two jumps every time you connect with a solid surface, which can get you into trouble on levels covered in ceiling traps, and Mr. Pop flip-flops between grinding nice and easy, or shooting down as if the wall were coated in butter.

I harp on these issues only because platformers rely so heavily on precision and a controllable rate of movement. Frankly, other games in the App Store do everything Frenzy Pop does, and with tighter controls. But once you weed out some problems—learn to tap the jump button during wall jumps instead of holding it—and work around the rest, you’ll find an otherwise enjoyable platformer.

The variety of levels and their obstacles keep the pace quick and fresh, and the completionist in me enjoyed the extra challenge of hunting down the soda can hidden in each level and opening up unlockables such as races against an evil chunk of cheese and hard-mode stages that really put your handle on the controls to the test. Plus, flowing through complicated sets of traps really does feel good. It just takes a bit more effort than I’d like.

For only a dollar, the Frenzy Pop package includes several dozen levels and assorted unlockables from the start, with the promise of more worlds on the way soon. While the game’s content doesn’t yet measure up to other more padded entries in the App Store, what it does offer will keep you entertained, and for a fair asking price.

TouchArcade Rating:

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