Showing posts with label 5-Star. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 5-Star. Show all posts

Monday, February 7, 2011

0

Rocket Bunnies Review

  • Monday, February 7, 2011
  • Ric RAT
  • ★★★★★

    Nobody ever thought that a rabbit could survive the harsh environs of deep-space, but then again... this ain't no ordinary rabbit. Slingshot your way from planet to planet collecting carrots in this physics-based arcade classic.


    Title: Rocket Bunnies | Developer: Defiant Development | Genre: Action/Arcade |
    Players: 1 | Version: 1.1.0 | Size: 14.7MB | Price: Free

    Click QRC image (from phone) or scan with a barcode reader.

    Rocket Bunnies gives you roughly 80% carrot and 20% stick. There's no doubt about it, this can be a frustratingly tough game - especially when trying to get a perfect 3-star rating on a level - but it's a whole lot of fun. In Rocket Bunnies, you play a astronomically-inclined rabbit in search of... wait for it... carrots! Gee, who would've guessed. Scooting about in your rocket-propelled rocket, you'll use the gravity of planetary bodies to both attract, and repel your ship. The faster you collect carrots (while avoiding certain death), the more points you'll get - the more points, the more stars. You get the idea.

    There are currently 60 levels in this game, each offering anywhere from one to three stars upon completion. The faster and more efficiently you complete a level, the more likely you are to get the full 3-star rating. Once you accumulate enough points in a stage, you'll unlock new levels to conquer. But beware, lone rabbit! There are many obstacles in your path toward the perfect carrot.

    Space-spiders will creep about, attempting to corrupt your innocent nature. Planets will self-destruct. Land mines will obstruct your path. Spider webs will impede your progress, and electrical fields will... well, leave you feeling naked and hairless. Rocket Bunnies is all about constant movement - "the flow" is your friend here, so don't get stuck orbiting Planet X for days on-end. If you end up cornered, don't fret... grab a power-up and wipe-out everything in your path.

    Controls
    Are intuitive, to say the least... tap a stellar-body to move toward it. Once orbiting, you can tap the planet/asteroid to reverse-course - an important skill to avoid the spiders! If you time your taps right, you'll slingshot from one planet to another in a smooth, bunny-like motion. Got stuck on spider silk? No problem. Wait until you've stretched the web thin, then tap your destination to break-free. Any time you feel the pressing need for an alfalfa-pellet break, use two fingers simultaneously to tap and pause the game.

    Graphics
    Android games are slowly, but surely, catching-up to the iPhone in terms of graphical quality. This isn't your momma's Flash game. Graphics in Rocket Bunnies are nicely rendered in 3D, from the glowing molten-suns to the flexible spider webs of doom. In-game translucent arrow-pointers also keep your rabbit thrusting in the proper direction.

    Sound
    The background music in Rocket Bunnies is a cheese-ball synth-track, set to keep you groovin' while you race from planet to planet. It's incredibly repetitive, but seems to do the job. The sound effects are well-done, and work nicely.

    Options
    Not much in the way of options, I'm afraid. You can toggle sound on and off. There's also a somewhat-decent tutorial that explains your typical obstacles and how to overcome them.

    Verdict
    Rabbits... for free. Really? I've read that this game competes with Angry Birds in terms of over-all entertainment, and I really don't doubt it. Rocket Bunnies is fun, frustrating, and keeps you on your toes. With sixty levels to master, and a third galaxy that's flagged as "coming soon", you'd have to be... really weird... to pass this game up. Seriously, it's a blast. As an added bonus, even though there are ads, they only show up on splash-screens and don't interfere with game play at all *coughsangrybirds*.


    Rocket Bunnies screen | gameplay Rocket Bunnies screen | gameplay
    Rocket Bunnies screen | gameplay Rocket Bunnies screen | gameplay
    Rocket Bunnies screen | gameplay Rocket Bunnies screen | gameplay


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    Wednesday, October 27, 2010

    0

    Angry Birds Review

  • Wednesday, October 27, 2010
  • Ric RAT
  • ★★★★★

    Angry Birds iconAfter having had their eggs stolen from right beneath their beaks, this flock of pissed-off birds has enlisted in your help to exact revenge, kamikaze-style. You must help them slingshot their way to victory.


    Title: Angry Birds | Developer: Rovio Mobile | Genre: Brain & Puzzle, Action |
    Players: 1 | Version: 1.3.5 | Size: 12.2MB | Price: Free 

    Click QRC image (from phone) or scan with a barcode reader.

    Games that involve grumpy animals going to extreme measures (including using themselves as cannon-fodder) in order to exact revenge always seem to make me smile... and Angry Birds is no exception. I have to admit, I gave this game 1/4 of a star just because of its hilariously over-the-top concept.

    In Angry Birds, a group of militant swine have pilfered eggs from the wrong peeps. Do pigs even eat eggs? Little did the sows know, these birds are willing to use every tool at their disposal to show them who's boss. You have been summoned by the disgruntled birds, as the hand of God, in order to operate the Sacred Slingshot - a tool of last resort. Using the slingshot, combined with the various aerial maneuvers granted to each avian species (tap the screen), you'll launch birds one-by-one with the solitary goal of bludgeoning the enemy to death. The pigs won't make your objective easy, however, as they've fortified themselves in crude structures of glass, wood, and stone. At the end of the day, Angry Birds feels a lot like Jenga would - if you played it from forty-feet away, using a slingshot. You'll need to plan (slightly) your attacks, making sure to hit the weak-points in the structure that either a) collapse on the pigs, or b) leave them exposed so your next bird can make a direct-hit. Easier said than done.

    There are three stages in Angry Birds, each with twenty-one levels. For you math whiz's, that's sixty-three levels of killing-enjoyment! In the time I played, I discovered three types of birds: blue, red, and yellow. By tapping the screen (anywhere) in mid-flight, the blue bird splits into three, raining down feathery-chaos upon the structures (or pigs) below. Blue birds are most useful in laying-waste to glass. Red birds have exceptionally hard noggins, and are best launched at weak-points in structures to make things collapse or shove bits out of the way. Yellow birds get a turbo-boost, and will tear-through wood (and pigs) if properly aimed. On occasion, you'll also crash into a random Easter-egg item allowing you to unlock and play a special level that's separate from the rest. The one I played involved beach balls.

    Every level has its own high-score, as well as a potential three-star rating for efficiency. Similar to Xbox Achievements, this star mechanism will motivate you perfectionists to keep coming back for more.

    Controls
    You can scroll the screen horizontally to get a better feel for the pigs you're up against, or pinch to zoom-out. I find the zoomed-out view the easiest to use for targeting, since you get the whole picture. Unfortunately, the screen seems to "stick" on either the slingshot or the pig-structure, which makes it difficult to zoom the screen to fit the entire scenario into view without zooming all the way out. This really got annoying for me, and is my biggest gripe with the game. The slingshot works perfectly, and I haven't had any problems with premature-release as some other Market users have reported.

    Graphics
    The objects in Angry Birds, especially the foreground structures, can get a bit rudimentary-looking and angular, but for the most part the game is nice and cartoony. I saw no pixellation or distortion. The puff-trails that your birds leave-behind are a nice way to gauge your next shot, but it's difficult to see the white trails against the powder-blue sky. I love the fact that the birds all hop and dance in line while waiting for their turn at the slingshot. Each major stage has a new background, which leaves me feeling a bit stagnant after twenty levels of the same background. It would've been nice to switch-it up more often.

    Sound
    Sounds are great, from the background music to all the bird and pig chatter. No complaints here.

    Options
    You can mute and un-mute the sound, but that's about it in terms of options. Strangely, every time I load Angry Birds for the first time, the game defaults to muted.

    Verdict
    Angry Birds is a fabulous time-waster, and always leaves me in a good mood when I'm done playing. The bird-abilities add a nice bit of variety to an otherwise straightforward game of catapult, and the "achievement" system will likely keep you interested for a little while longer. This game is free, as of this review, but I hear this is only a promotional thing. You really can't lose by downloading such a great game at no cost.


    Get Angry Birds on AppBrain!
    Find Angry Birds on AppStoreHQ.


    Angry Birds screen | gameplay Angry Birds screen | gameplay

    Angry Birds screen | gameplay Angry Birds screen | gameplay

    Angry Birds screen | gameplay Angry Birds screen | gameplay


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