#4 - Paracute

Game: Paracute

Price: £0.59 / $0.99 | App Store |
Genre: Action, Scroller
Developer: Donut Games
Rating: 4+

Design: 7/10
Sound: 5/10
Gameplay: 6/10
Overall: 6/10

Parachuting Bears With A Big Brave Heart!
A peculiar game, to say the least, involving teddy bears, pillows and hearts but not aimed at just girls! Starting at the top of the cave, you glide the parachuting teddy bear safely through the nooks and crannies to the relative safety of the big fluffy pillow at the bottom. You must gather hearts to score points, avoid enemies and protect your parachute during your descent. Yes, it sounds awful! However, like most crazy, creative ideas by this vastly experienced developer, somehow it not only works, but works really well.

Design
Donut Games have released 24 games to date and they all follow a very similar, neat and polished design theme. They have used their typical colourful cartoony graphics in this game and it all looks great. There is not too much variety in place though, which is a real shame, but I accept that a game set in a cave is going to be tricky. There are just about enough changes as you progress through the levels, but it's all just a little too exact in its execution, as if a strict template has been followed for the creation of every level. Whilst this maintains a consistantly pleasant experience, it falls short of generating any excitement as you progress through the game.

Sound
Perhaps my hearing is a little off after the delights of Bit Pilot, but to me, this game really lacks a soundtrack! The background music is very unobtrusive with the emphasis placed on regular SFX from collecting items and obstacles. It's probably a wise move, given the amount of times you need to play a level in order to complete it, but that doesn't mean there couldn't be a little more variety of the unobtrusive music, rather than just one endless muttering. The SFX are all crisp and blend into the experience perfectly.

Gameplay
The game is incredibly simple to play with left and right the only taps on the screen. As you make your descent you need to gather as many hearts as possible with small ones gaining 5 points and large ones 50 points. There are obstacles such as hooks and fans, bonus items such as replacement parachute and shield and a small variety of enemies that will send you into freefall if you hit one. Each of the 30 levels has a 1, 2 or 3 star completion target ensuring replay value as you seek to fully complete the game. The game is perhaps a little too simple to complete and could do with some extra levels, but it's certainly challenging enough to attempt 3 stars on them all. There is not much variety on offer, but portals and 'helpers' on some of the levels bring something different to the table.

Conclusion
The lack of variety in the gameplay is perhaps the reason it has been limited to just 30 levels. The developers seem to have explored every possible avenue, so you are getting the best possible experience from them and it makes for a relatively good game. There is no question that it's a very enjoyable game to play, but it's likely that you'll complete it fairly quickly and may be left wanting a little more. The £0.59 price is definitely fair but Donut Games regularly have special offers where they put some of their games up for free, so just search Donut Games if you want to try some of their stuff out before commiting to a purchase. Overall, it's well worth a go and boasts some of the nicest looking cartoon graphics on the iPhone.

#1 - Monster Dash

Game: Monster Dash

Price: £0.59 / $0.99 | App Store |
Genre: Action, Scroller
Developer: Halfbrick
Rating: 9+

Design: 7/10
Sound: 6/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Overall: 7/10

Do The Monster Dash!
A fast paced action scroller from the makers of Fruit Ninja and Age of Zombies promises to pack a punch. Armed and dangerous, you jump and shoot your way through the automatically scrolling levels in your bid to survive the longest possible distance. As you progress, the background themes change, new weapons become available and different monsters meet their match. Here's a quick review. Must dash...

Design
A colourful array of backgrounds, monster styles and themes keep a reasonable amount of interest and the random manner that levels and monsters appear promises a different game everytime. Levels include Transylvania, Great Wall of China and Tokyo Rooftops with monsters such as Vampires, Yetis and Zombies. Your arsenal of weapons start with the unlimited default shotgun which is then trumped by limited allocations of weapons you pick up on the go such as The Pacifier Magnum, Rocket Launcher and some creative inclusions like the Machine Gun Jet Pack.

Sound
The music is suitably catchy and each themed level triggers a remix of the ongoing song. There is certainly room for more variety, but the subtle changes are enough to stop you getting annoyed. The SFX are few and far between, but that's the nature of the game - you spend all your time jumping and shooting! Even if there were more monster and background sounds, I'm not sure you'd be able to appreciate them with the constant shooting and the soundtrack.

Gameplay
The aim of the game is to secure the highest possible score both locally amongst friends and through the use of Open Feint online scoring. There are no challenges or tasks to give an idea of progress, but this is mildly dealt with by the unlockable Achievements and playing Statistics. The controls are simple enough, with left taps jumping and right taps firing but you will find that it gets difficult very quickly with the pace of your running increasing all the time. Death is met by losing all your hearts through monster contact and obstacles or, most commonly, losing all your hearts in one go by failing to make a jump.

Conclusion
Overall this is a very addictive and catchy game, but only to a point. It's likely you'll play it endlessly for the first week and then it'll drop off your radar a little as the next distraction gets released. If the developers can add a new level, monster and weapon every so often, it'll spark a little more interest. However, some new playing styles are badly needed to keep this interesting such as challenges and tasks or just some form of completion other than endlessly chasing the highscore! At £0.59, it delivers some entertainment and it's well worth a look.