Mobile Monday – Tetris, Destructopus, Pep the Dragon, MinoMonsters

As the end of the year quickly approaches we’ve only got a few more Mondays left of 2011, but as everyone winds down for the Christmas season that doesn’t mean that we’re stopping here at GodisaGeek.com, quite the opposite, our Game of the Year week has started with a bang and you’ll have already seen our exclusive coverage of the highly anticipated MMO from Carbine Studios and NCSoft, WildStar. With all that going on you’d think that’d be enough, but Mobile Monday is still here! This week we’ve got a remastered classic in the form of Tetris from EA, a game that tasks the player with causing as much destruction as possible with Destructopus (such an awesome name too!), a platforming game involving our serpentine friends the Dragons with Pep the Dragon and a truly outstanding Pokemon-esque game in the form of the soon-to-be massive MinoMonsters!

An action packed week then, I hope you’re ready!

Let the games begin!

Titles are available on iPhone and iPad unless specifically stated otherwise. If you like what you read, click the small black “App Store” button to load iTunes up and purchase the title!

TETRIS:

We’ve all played it at one time or another, it’s much like Pac-Man in the sense that it pretty much defined the industry that we all know and love, and just like Pac-Man, Tetris seems to keep coming back time and again to charm us, frustrate us and keep us company, like the comforting knowledge that the sun will rise again in the morning. If you’ve got a device that plays games the chances are good that you’ll be able to play Tetris on it at some time or another. The iOS devices are no different, and there have been a couple of iterations of the classic game before now, but this new one promises to be something entirely different; while still staying the same, of course.

At its basic level this new version of Tetris is exactly the same game that you’ve always known and loved. The main aspect of the gameplay has the player dropping blocks from the top of the screen to the bottom in an attempt to make a solid line from left to right. Once the line has been made, it disappears and points are awarded to the player. This gameplay mechanic is repeated over and over again until no more blocks can enter the screen due to the game area being full, at which point it’s game over. That’s where the similarities between this new version of Tetris and the age-old title we’ve all grown up with end. Everything else about the game is hugely different.

The first thing that’s noticeably different is the addition of a brand new game mode called Galaxy, this mode plays much more like a puzzle game than the usual game of Tetris we’re all used to. The aim of the game is to clear all of the pre-placed blocks by working out where a particular puzzle piece should go. Its position can be determined, especially in later levels, by anticipating the cascade effect of Tetris wherein if you’ve created a line but one or more blocks are left over, you have to make sure that those leftovers are going to fall somewhere useful. If they’re not then chances are you’re placing the initial block in the wrong place. This new style of playing Tetris is a refreshing break from the norm and something that players will find themselves coming back to time and time again.

Another new aspect of the Tetris world, even if it is a little strange, is the addition of the Tetris Club, a monthly subscription option that offers members exclusive items along with other bonuses. Personally I’m not entirely sure why EA felt the need to add this, do people love Tetris enough after all these years that they will fork out a monthly fee to get exclusive items while playing? I’m doubtful, but only time will tell.

If you’re a fan of Tetris, in all its incarnations, then you’ll find that this new version of the game is one of the best. The new modes are fun to play and you’ll find yourself coming back to them over and over again. Couple that addictive nature with the fact that the entire game is playable using only one finger and you’re left with an extremely well made version of a gaming classic that utilizes the touch screen efficiently while making the player feel like this is the way that Tetris was always meant to be played. If you’re a fan of Tetris, as most gamers are, then you need to be downloading this new version.

DESTRUCTOPUS:

If you’ve ever seen Godzilla, Cloverfield and all of the other movies that come under that same category then you’ll understand just how satisfying it looks to rampage across a city swiping at buildings and taking them down without much difficulty at all. I assume that’s the draw of such films, especially in the case of Godzilla. With that in mind, the guys over at Glitchsoft have created a game where you can do just that, tear across a city as a huge monster and do as much damage as possible to as many buildings as you can find. A point? Did you not hear me say you destroy entire cities?

When Destructopus is boiled down to its basic parts, the whole point of the game is to cause as much destruction as possible. You’re not given too much in terms of weaponry in order to perform this feat though. A little bit of a punch or a swipe is enough to utterly devastate most buildings while lasers will be useful for taking down the airborne annoyances that seem to litter your path towards pain and ultimate mayhem. This is the only problem with Destructopus, it’s certainly enjoyable to lay waste to entire city blocks as a humongous monster but that’s all the game is, it’s fun at first but once the initial fun factor wears off there’s nothing left to hold peoples attention for very long.

Just like the gameplay, the controls within the game are extremely simplistic which, instead of being a downside, is one of the parts of the game that seems to have been well thought out. There’s no point putting complex controls into a game with as simplistic gameplay mechanic as those that are on display here. As the player you’re given the ability to walk left or right, in order to navigate, and then a few of buttons to attack. Nothing more, nothing less; simplicity at its finest. The on-screen controls do get a little bit annoying but that’s a common theme with using them and it’s certainly not the fault of the game.

If you’re looking for a game that centres on mindless destruction then Destructopus is the game that you’ve been scouring the App Store for. Granted, there’s not much choice when it comes to games with that as their theme but Glitchsoft have seen a gap in the market and gone for it; nothing wrong with that. After a couple of hours you’ll find your interest in the game starting to wane and, as there’s nothing else in the game to hold your attention for the long term, that’ll probably be where you and the loveable Destructopus part ways but those precious moments you do spend together will be full of fun, laughter and, most important of all, destruction. Lots of destruction.

PEP THE DRAGON:

Last week we reviewed a game with ninjas, a game that was probably created simply because ninjas are extremely cool. You know something else that’s also extremely cool? Dragons. Dragons are cool. PepWorks have made a game where you control a scaled down version of the serpentine creature and make your way across a selection of levels, collecting gems, coins and other items, destroying enemies and simply trying to survive in a platforming world that’s trying so hard to take you out of it all the time. The game in question is Pep the Dragon, but is it any good?

The main gameplay is Pep the Dragon focuses on the platforming element of the game. The end of each stage has an exit, you start on one side of the map and your only goal is to get to that exit by any means necessary. Plenty of obstacles will hinder your progress through the level however, but if you’ve played any platforming game over the last couple of years, especially some of the more popular 2.5D ones, then you’ll be well versed in how to traverse the usual platforming style of the world. Throughout the world there are little collectibles to keep people interested for the longer term, these take the form of gems for the most part, which look like Chaos Emeralds from the classic Sonic games, or coins, which usually appear when the player destroys some parts of the environment or kill one of the plethora of enemy that are trying to hinder your progress.

For the controls players have the option of two styles, the first is the usual on-screen control scheme that most iOS platform games have, and will continue to have. The implementation of the on-screen system in Pep the Dragon isn’t as bad as it has been in other games, and the game is absolutely playable using this method, but this is only because the controls are so simplistic and involve left, right, jump and attack. Thats it. The lack of complexity makes the on-screen controls a lot more tolerable but they’re still far from perfect.

Graphically Pep the Dragon is quite good looking, the main character is at least, the whole game is rendered using the Unity engine which is one of the best looking engines available to be used on the iOS devices, some of the best looking games on the system were made using it. In Pep the Dragon however, while the Unity engine was used quite well, it isn’t utilised to the level that it can be. This is a shame because anyone that has seen the engine in use in other titles will know the power that it is capable of and seeing the logo in the top right hand corner of Pep the Dragon when the title screen it displayed may give the player a sense of anticipation that’s never fulfilled.

When it’s all said and done Pep the Dragon is a action platforming game in the same vein as just about any other game in this genre that you will have ever played. The on-screen controls are utilised in a way that doesn’t make them horrible to use, and that alone is a breath of fresh air. It’s not the best game on the iOS devices but it’s a glimmer of hope that proves that the on-screen touch control method doesn’t have to ruin a game. It won’t add anything, and probably never will, but at least it’s not taking anything away here.

MINOMONSTERS:

MinoMonsters. If you haven’t heard of the game, and the company, yet then be prepared to hear about it all over the place. The company of MinoMonsters was founded in 2010 by Josh Buckley, a businessman who was only 18 at the time of the company’s formation. That’s a feat in itself but the game that they’ve been able to create is something out of this world. There’s no point in burying the lead and making you wait until the end of this mini review in order to find out how amazing the game is, I’ll tell you right off the bat that it’s one of the best games available for the iPad and I’ll spend the rest of my time with you telling you exactly why I think that.

The gameplay in MiniMonsters will be familiar to anyone that’s ever played a Pokemon game before. You choose your MinoMonster, walk around on the screen and attack other monsters that happen to cross your path. Battles take the form of standard attacks, where the player just has to tap on the offending enemy and their selected MinoMonster will attack with a standard attack, and special attacks. Each character has a couple of special moves that they can perform if they’ve got enough energy to do so. Anything that you’re going to need in the game, candy, energy, health and lots of other things, are collected by defeating the plethora of enemies that populate the game’s world. This is where the main addictive nature of the game comes into full effect, giving the player little pieces of rewards at the end of each battle, making them come back for more and more, playing little battles over and over again.

The other comparison between MinoMonsters and Pokemon is the fact that you can capture any of the enemies that you’re facing off against. Found a particularly rare enemy that only comes around once in a blue moon? Want to add them to your collection? Sure, why not, just lower their health a little bit and throw a piece of candy their way, if you’re lucky enough you’ll be able to add the new monster to your party and use them in whichever way you see fit.

There are a lot of quests for players to sink their teeth into, ensuring that the game doesn’t get stale with just fighting and collecting enemy MinoMonsters. These quests are usually extremely simplistic and involve the player fighting their way to a particular position on the map, but boredom is one thing that never seems to set in. It could be the cute characters, the amazingly crisp and clean art style or just the collection mentality that the game encourages throughout, but the questing, despite being simple, never gets old or repetitive.

There are so many more things to be discovered about MinoMonsters, when I say it’s one of the best games on the iDevices, I’m not kidding, it’s one of the most addictive games I’ve ever played, even this review took me three times as long as they usually do because every time I went back to the game to double check a fact I’d stay there for about half an hour. Good if you’ve got the time, not so good if you’re trying to write! If you haven’t already downloaded it then I’ve no idea what you’re waiting for, MinoMonsters is going to be massive, there’s no doubt about that in my mind, so why not get in on the ground floor and get downloading it now!