Today we take a walk on the lighter side. With many of you stuck in the airport right now, this may just be what you are looking for….two games from Keen Studios. Both games cost $.99 on the App Catalog.
Our first review is Perfect Bounce. Basically the goal here is to flick your finger and make your basketball bounce around and hopefully score some points. The problem here is that the ball behaves like a rock more than an actual ball. I know the idea was to simulate a real basketball, but it just feels too heavy. The end result is that to score you basically end up flailing around and hoping for the best.
Is the game fun? In my opinion…not really. It is just too frustrating. Also there is little sense of accomplishment here. No leaderboards to see how you did or achievements (which their other game has)… nothin’.
- It’s cheap.
- Version 2.0 is in the works
- Not fun
- Still too expensive
So, after playing Perfect Bounce, I was not really looking forward to playing their next title, Checkers Pro, but I have to say, before even playing it, it is readily apparent that this game is in a whole different league. It is polished, customizable, and well done.
It is still just checkers, so if you don’t like that game, then this isn’t going to change your mind, but if you enjoy an occasional game, then there are definitely worse ways to spend $.99. I should note that there is a free version, but the pro version allows much more customization and is worth the money if nothing else but to keep Keen making games.
So what makes it so good? Polish and features. You can play with one player or two (hot potato), you can change about 8 different settings (including the board and piece art, haptic feedback, and how aggressive the computer is), and you can earn achievements. I am an Xbox fan so I like achievements. In this game they barely scratch the surface of what is possible on this front, but it is a minor gripe. The foundation is here and I hope they will expand the concept on all of their future games.
The gameplay is just checkers…no reinventing the wheel here, but for me, that is just fine. I think classic games like this have a lot of longevity which makes them a great value. The only problem I had (and it is minor) is that my fat fingers had a tough time getting the exact piece selected the first time every time. It didn’t happen enough to be annoying, but it is times like this that I wish my Pre had a bigger screen.
- Well implemented version of checkers
- Nice customization
- Cheap!
- Some very minor control issues
- Didn’t go far enough with the achievements (but at least they have them!)
This is an easy one…Perfect Bounce is one you can safely pass on and not feel as though you have missed anything. If you like the concept of the game, then I would save your money until their next version comes out.
On the other hand, if you enjoy a game of checkers, then Checkers Pro is a no-brainer. Get it and enjoy.
Gallery
Other links you may be interested in:
- Asphalt 5 - Gameloft - webOS game review, palm pre | webOSroundup
- Swap and Drop - Biocandy Productions - webOS app review | webOSroundup
- Mobile War Review
[...] to be fair, I didn’t mention this in my reviews of Checkers or Match ‘Em, so the question is why am I picking on poor Swap & Drop? I think it boils [...]