Jetpack Joyride Review

Halfbrick is back with their new game Jetpack Joyride.  If you liked Monster Dash you will be in hog heaven here and if you didn't play Monster Dash, more fool you.


In Jetpack Joyride, Barry Steakfries makes his third appearance, however this time rather than trying to take out monsters he is simply going, as the titles suggests, for a joy-ride on a jetpack.    During the infinite scroll, see how far you can get style gameplay that most ipod / flash gamers will be accustomed to, you collect coins and try to get Barry as far as you can.   Whilst this is all going on there is also a range of missions to complete.  Once passed these grant you stars that increase the players level and grant extra cash. The in game cash can be used to purchase in game abilities, vehicle upgrades, alternate jetpacks or costumes for Barry.

All of this unlocking, customisation and levelling up adds a large extension to the gameplay, despite just being one action racing platformer.  Also boasting online leaderboards and achievements this game is bound to keep you occupied for a while.

Jetpack Joyride is a must buy for anyone with an ipod, it is possibly the greatest racing platformer to date 5/5

Spooky Hoofs Review

Spooky Hoofs is yet another racing platformer available on the iOS marketplace.  This time around the player takes control of a run away carriage being pulled by horses.  There are two buttons jump and whiplash, which charges through obstacles in your path.

Overall the game is what you would expect, you jump or smash through the obstacles in your path, whilst trying to get as far as possible.   However Spooky Hoofs innovates with arcade style boss fights and three different power ups.

Despite this innovation the game is unnecessarily hard on the processor usage, which was a bad move on the developers part.  Meaning that the game is unplayable by anyone who has an ipod older than a 3GS.  When I played it the game lagged out, often causing jumping to become a much larger issue than it should have to be.

Graphically the game is okay and better than most of its genre.  It looks like the developers were intending for it to look like Castlevania but lacked the ability to pull it off fully.  The game looks nice but it is let down by a rather plain and ugly looking menu.

If you like the racing platformer genre and possess an up to date iphone/ ipod, then you may want to give this a go.  otherwise I would pass on it.

Spooky Hoofs is a creepy looking race game with some innovation, let down by extreme processor usage. 3/5

Blast Zone Mega Reivew

Blast Zone Mega is as retro looking as the name sounds.   The game is wonderfully presented in an 8-bit style which conveys the "Mega" devastation chillingly well.

In the game your aim is to level cities to the ground by guiding falling bombs.  Sure the game is very questionable and dark, yet it packs a good challenge and makes for a nice change from the standard app gaming genres.

Like the classic retro games of the 80's retro bomber gets hard pretty early on, unlike a lot of app games.  The huge satisfaction that comes when you level a city and pass the current challenge is brilliant and keep you playing through the harder levels.  The features that this game offers will appeal to any old school gamer, however it probably will not appeal to most casual ipod gamers.  I couldn't see the average housewife getting kicks out of destroying cities with a nuke, but then I could be wrong.  Despite not appealing to a wide variety of people it is bound to please you if you like a mixture of old games and destruction.

I have yet to encounter anything like Blast Zone Mega in the iOS market place, so for that reason alone it is worth giving it a try.  Anything that breaks the mould should get some support.

A game of mass destruction wrapped in a retro atmosphere 4/5