Ahh, there's nothing quite like a relaxing daytime drive. The idylls of the open road, the quiet hum of tires meeting road, the feeling of traveling through open air. Conversely, there's a reason you shouldn't climb into the driver's seat while intoxicated -- it can make for one hell of an unwieldy and dangerous ride.
Bumpy Road may as well be a cautionary tale for an Ad Council campaign against drunk driving, then. The game's francophone Playmobil-esque couple, out for what was supposed to be a peaceful drive in their humble jalopy, suddenly find themselves in the throes of a random topographical upheaval, as you, the player, struggle to control their vehicle by manipulating the terrain around them. For their part, the couple remains remarkably calm, despite being in a state where they (or you) are unable to control their actions directly. Clearly they must be under the influence of something; perhaps Mr. Playmobil dabbled a little too liberally with the côtes du rhône before getting in the car.
Such it is with Bumpy Road, whose innocuous trappings belie the often frustrating attempts at controlling the couple's vehicle. The concept behind the game's drag-and-tap controls is novel -- wherever you place your finger onscreen the road will jump up, moving forwards or backwards as you slide, thus creating a "ripple" in the 2D geography and subsequently pushing the couple's car along. You can also jump the vehicle by tapping just below it, and between this technique and the use of momentum you're as ready as you can be to navigate the car through treacherous European landscapes, collecting "gizmos" to help propel you forward.
As with most "indirect" platformers, though, wrenching any significant amount of control is not easy. Pushing the car back and forth is easy enough (although you're not fooling anyone if you try to play the game with two hands) but between the scrolling level design and a jump button that isn't always as responsive as it should be, it can pretty difficult to actually make the couple's vehicle go where you need it to. Between the two main levels -- themed after Spring and Autumn -- you also have to contend with disappearing and moving platforms, switches to activate said platforms, jumps and other elements. Of course, you can play time attack, which has a convenient lack of holes, but it lacks the endgame: collecting pictures to tell the story of how Mr. and Mrs. Playmobil met. There's no lack of aesthetic charm (and even, begrudgingly, addictiveness) here, yet the frustration level is high -- a bumpy road, indeed.
The bottom line. Bumpy Road may warm your heart with its cute visuals and relaxing tone, but the game is too finicky to be much fun for most.
Review SynopsisProduct:
Company:
Price:
Requirements:
iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad running iOS 3.1.3 or later
Positives:
Charming aesthetic and music. Addicting in spite of difficulty. Universal for iPad and iPhone/iPod touch.
Negatives:
Frustratingly easy to screw up, putting you all the way back at the start of the level. Only one of the two game modes has any incentive to play.
沒有留言:
發佈留言