By Jason Nimer
As
iOS gaming has continued to grow and evolve as a legitimate platform, a rift has
begun to emerge between the two main types of experiences being offered to
Apple's faithful: On one side we have original games that fully embrace the
strengths and weaknesses of the platform, while on the other we have games that
have been sloppily shoehorned onto iDevices, games that may have once existed
elsewhere and are ported to make a quick buck. While I've had my share of fun
with the latter, the former is what keeps the iOS platform exciting, the very
platform that gave us what could be easily considered the world's number one
game, Angry Birds. Seeing new games flourish on Apple's iTunes Store is always
exciting, and it's even better when a genuine gem fights its way to the front of
the pack. The Angry Birds did it, Tiny Wings did it, and if there is any
justice, Astroslugs DX will be the next name on that short list. It really is
that good.
It is a simple concept, really. It's even a concept that has been done
before, numerous times, on this very platform. The player is presented with a
grid and a series of shapes. The player must draw into the grid all the required
shapes, often leaving no empty spaces left behind, kind of like a crossword
puzzle with no letters. Sometimes these puzzles are timed, sometimes they
aren't. No matter the frills, there are no less than a dozen titles on the App
Store based on this same concept. What crowns Astroslugs DX king of these games
is the mount of clever personality injected into every last corner of the
experience, along with the 100 percent perfect implementation of a tutorial, a
satisfying difficulty slope and a never fails perfect control scheme. It's the
kind of combo that drives games to number one, and this should be no exception.
The story is simple and cute; the Astroslugs once roamed the galaxy, looking
for planets to consume. It's up to you to guide them to more food by solving
these little asteroid grid puzzles. There are four worlds to conquer, with a
whole mess of themed stages within each world to keep you playing. The
Astroslugs are cute and always happy to see you succeed, and the whole game has
the kind of charm that has made past App Store bestsellers the phenoms they
were. It also perfectly guides the player into more difficult puzzles, by
presenting a no-nonsense tutorial with a few un-screw-up-able stages. From
there, its an easy jump through to the main game, and the feeling of 'just one
more try' comes with each and every successive asteroid grid.
What else can I say? Astroslugs DX impressed me like few other App Store
games have recently. In a post-Infinity Blade, Tiny Wings App Store, few truly
amazing games have popped up in 2011. Army of Darness Defense, Evil Dead,
Deathsmiles, Marathon, Street Fighter IV Volt, Orcs and Elves, the X-Men arcade
port; a small handful of excellent games for a seven-month time frame, I think
you'll agree. But I'm hoping Astroslugs DX re-sparks my interest in digging for
those lesser-known but truly fantastic titles. Will it make it to the top of the
App Store charts? I hope so, but that's a tall order. Go download this one right
away, you won't be disappointed.
Final Rating: 100%
