iSlash Review

When I first discovered iSlash I got pretty excited, as I soon realised it had the same principles as the arcade game Qix that I loved playing as a child.  In Qix and iSlash the aim is to cut the surface area into smaller and smaller pieces without drawing a line through any of the objects bouncing around inside.

The innovation with iSlash is of course the touch screen aspect.  The lines are now slashes drawn with your finger, therefore making it have a feudal Japanese style theme, because clearly Japanese Ninjas would be the only people capable of slashing such items.   It does work with the game but I personally feel it is a cheap move, the go to themes are either Ninjas or Zombies and both have been done to death.  Still it is only a theme and it is pretty slight as the objects could be anything and it would play the same.

The slicing much like in Fruit Ninja, makes you feel like you are in total control, the slashing is fluid and easy to manipulate.  Against the wooden backdrop of the level the game looks superb and brings something actually very basic to a whole new level.  It allows for you to become immersed into the environment.  However this immersion is necessary in order for you to concentrate enough to slice through the wood avoiding the throwing stars, whilst at the same time keeping them all contained within the same area.

The game takes both the players maximum level of patience and speed in order to complete all 80+ levels.  New content and star types have also been released in an update and more will follow in good time I am sure.  While having so many levels at your disposal is nice, the game does not let you skip a level if it is too frustrating.  This aspect did make me stop playing the game for a while as a few of the levels are very tricky. However the reward for progressing is not only the level unlocks and the achievements but as your progress, new power-ups are unlocked.  Later on you can slow down time, remove hazardous stars and invoke a few other powers.  The trouble with the power ups are that they require you to make a large slash and it is unclear on whether you will get them or not.

iSlash is a great reflex puzzle game, however if you were expecting a game in the lines of Fruit Ninja you are likely to be highly disappointed.  Whilst it is simple in concept the vast amount of levels will keep you occupied for a long time and while it is frustrating it is well worth the investment, at the equivalent of 99 cents you cannot go wrong here 5/5