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Space Ship Ion is a space shoot-em-up from iniGames. I should mention that shmups are some of my favorite games, ever, and that I’ve got a bullet hell group on Touch Arcade, so it might sound like I’m spoiled when I review this game, because, well, I’m use to playing some of the best bullet hell and shmup games out there.

Now, in SSI, the game relies heavily on the story and weapons shop instead of insane bullet patterns and over-loading you with enemies, which, with an AppStore full of great shmups, is a pretty risky move, but it works well here. The story is well written, and it unfolds pretty nicely. Not to say that there’s not enough action in Space Ship Ion to keep even hardened shmup fans happy, because playing on Very Hard difficulty will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout the whole game.

The weapon store also adds quite a bit to the game, as you can buy and equip weapons, holding 6 guns plus a shield on your ship. Items can be bought with points that you collect while going through the game, so there’s no IAPs to worry about. I was, however, hoping for some more interesting weapons. There are a few, but with a game that’s main selling points are the story and shop, I really think the developer could have thrown in quite a bit more weaponry, and definitely more than one shield. There are, however, 2 weapons that unlock when you complete Normal and Hard Modes, and all weapons upgrade while collecting red orbs in the game.

The controls are nice, and the game kind of plays like Super Laser, because you’ve got a missile lock in front of your ship that you’ll constantly be trying to hit enemies with. The controls that are given are relative touch that works along-side tilt controls. If you don’t touch the screen for a couple seconds, the tilt controls take over. There’s also a double tap that you can use to drop a nuke, but this only works if you lift your finger off the screen first. Doubled with the tilt controls, this can cause a lot of un-necessary deaths, having your ship fly up to the top or bottom of the screen while trying to nuke a cluster of enemies.

Online leaderboards are not enabled, so the scoring mechanics are kind of lost within the game, but there are medals to unlock, adding a little bit of extra challenge to the game. The graphics in SSI are good, but not in retina display. That’s generally not a deal-breaker with most shmup fans, as there’s very few retina supported shmups in the AppStore. There’s 22 different enemies, and 8 different bosses, each needing a different strategy to deal with and defeat. The bosses animations and attacks are very well thought out, and should keep you on your toes no matter what difficulty you play on.

In the end, SSI is a decent shmup with a nice story and one of the very few shmups in the AppStore that has a shop. It is a well made shooter that should give any fan of the genre plenty of gameplay, especially for the $1.99 price-tag. Hopefully in the future some online services will be offered, and the shop will be expanded, but as it is now, it is definitely worth checking out. I know I’ll be keeping my eyes open for more games from iniGames in the future as well, because they’ve certainly managed to make their mark in the AppStore.

I’m giving Space Ship Ion a score of 4 out of 5.

Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/space-ship-ion/id450499854?mt=8

Waves: Survivor is an endless type game with platformer controls from Renown Entertainment. In it, it’s your job to help Johnny Calm make it as far as he can while in his little boat, collecting coins, and avoiding, jumping on, or smacking enemies, all the while being chased by a huge shark. You’ll also battle huge waves and crazy water movement, sometimes taking on enough water to sink, and be thrown deep under water where you tilt to control your direction, and quickly tap the swim button in the bottom corner to make it back to the surface, and into your boat to travel further.

The graphics in Waves: Survivor are pretty nice, but not retina supported. The controls are nice and responsive, and work very well with the game, and the physics and overall feel of the game is great. Aside from the weird high jumping, the water physics are very nice, and do add to the atmosphere of the game. The sun and moon rising and setting helps as well. Along with the music, the game comes in a very nice neat little package.

GameCenter is not added, so going for high scores doesn’t really drive the game much. However, there are collectibles that you can get while going through the game, which does help. A big part of the game is trying to not take on a bunch of water while waves crash against your boat, and you jump in and out of the water. Tilting your iPod controls the balance of the boat while in the air in in the water, and being able to control the angle of your boat does help with the amount of water you might get in the boat when you land, and while going up and down on the waves. Getting too much water in your boat, shown by a glass bottle around your health meter, thrown you into a mini-game that really disrupts game-play more than enhances it. But that can also mean there’s even more drive not to take on too much water throughout the game.

All-n-all, Waves: Survivor is a decent endless score game with great physics and graphics that could use some polish. But the gameplay really pushes you on, and will have you coming back to the game over and over again. Hopefully, GameCenter or Openfeint will be added in the future so that going for that high-score will drive the replay value up, and bring more players to the game.

I’m giving Waves: Survivor a score of 3/5.

Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/waves-survivor/id393190599?mt=8

Bonkheads HD is a new platformer action game from Around The Clock Games. It’s a clone of the original Mario Brothers where you would knock the enemies over by hitting the blocks under them, then kick them off the screen. I use to play this version of Mario with my next door neighbor all the time when I was younger, and loved it. It’s great to see a clone of it available in the AppStore now, and Around The Clock Games has done an amazing job re-creating the game, as well as adding some of their own new mechanics and loads of enemies. In it, you’ll play as Grag or Thog, and stop the hordes of pests from invading your town of Trollsville. You can also play with a second player on the same device, which is awesome.

Now, in Bonkheads, there’s 144 levels spread out across 12 different environments, each with different enemies, friction, and gravity. There’s also 6 power-ups hidden in the platforms to help, and sometimes disrupt, your gameplay. As you progress, the game saves after each level, so if you loose a life in a stage, and want to play through that level again, hopefully not loosing a life your second or third time through, you can just go back to the level select screen, and play on from the last level you had all your lives in. This comes in handy especially when dealing with new enemies that have different mechanics to learn. If you get stuck on a certain level, you can always go into the Options Menu, and change the game difficulty from Normal to Easy, or crank it up to Hard if the game isn’t giving you enough challenge.

The controls in Bonkheads are great. You’re given the choice of having virtual controls, which are nice and tight, or invisible controls, swiping left and right on the left side of the screen, and touching the right side to jump. They both play pretty much the same, and are both very responsive and easy to use. The graphics are great, smooth and professional, along with nice animations for each platform you’ll bonk your head on, and each and every enemy, only adding to the professional look and feel of the whole game. Physics-wise, Bonkheads is great. It’s not floaty, and not weighed down, jumping feels nice, and the speed for your character and enemies is great. Turning is done easily, not needing to pick up your thumb, and the speed of your character is constant, never needing to hold in a certain direction and speed up in order to make a jump. The music and effects are also nice, fitting in nicely with the game, but you’re not able to keep the effects sounds while turning down the music.

Bonkheads is OpenFeint enabled, giving us 9 different leaderboards, and 33 achievements, helping to add tremendously to the replay value of the game. Also, the two-player gameplay is great fun, if you can get over the fact that it‘s in portrait mode, and each of you need to hold the device at the same time. This might cause some frustrating gameplay with both of you cramming your fingers onto the screen, and moving the device at the same time, it does work a lot better with an iPad though. If the two player was done over wi-fi, it would greatly enhance the idea, and make 2-player gameplay a lot more fun, especially if GameCenter was added, and you could be auto-matched, or play with GC friends. But this is really the only issue I can find with Bonkheads.

It’s given me back a little piece of my childhood by cloning one of my favorite games, and expanding on it, making one player gaming extremely fun. The professional look and feel of the game is great, and has made me very excited about where this game will go with future updates, as well as where Around The Clock Games is going to go with their next game. I will definitely be keeping my eyes on them for as long as they decide to put out iOS games. If you’re into plat formers – especially older 8 and 16 bit platformers, this is one game you should definitely get. Being Universal, $2.99 is a great price for tons of gameplay, and loads of leaderboards with plenty of replay value.

I’m giving Bonkheads HD 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bonkheads-hd/id446732236?mt=8

Draw Slasher: The Quest is a new side scrolling slice-em-up from Mass Creation. In it, you’ll take the awesome monkey, Hanzo, from Draw Slasher: Dark Ninja Vs. Pirate Monkey Zombies on a quest to defeat the evil demon lord that has attacked your village, and kidnapped your family and master. Along with the Quest Mode, Mass Creation has also included Challenges, Endless Modes, and Online Multiplayer.

Draw Slasher: The Quest is a huge step up from the first Draw Slasher game, giving us a stamina bar under our health bar that drains as we draw slashes on the screen. This allows for more slashes at once, and coupled with a quicker moving Hanzo, really adds to the amount of carnage you can dish out quickly. This makes the gameplay a lot better than the first Draw Slasher game, because if you remember, you could only have one slash on the screen at a time, and Hanzo wasn’t the quickest moving animal out there.

In Quest Mode, you’ll go through 6 stages of bloody mayhem, tracking down the demon that burnt your village and kidnapped your family and friends. Each of the stages has a boss battle, and an ability that you unlock after defeating the boss. These abilities are all upgradeable with experience points that you gain while slicing up monkeys and collecting the red orbs that are randomly spit out of the bodies of your enemies. You can also upgrade your health and stamina bars, each upgrade helping you a little more in your quest to save your loved ones. Mass Creation has also added quite a few new types of zombies. A Chef, slicer monkey, little zombie monkeys, interesting bosses, and ghosts of zombies, each needing different techniques to take out.

The Challenge Mode is filled with 25 different challenges, all unlocked from the moment you start up the game. Not having to finish one challenge to move onto the next is awesome. You’re also able to keep your upgrades from the Quest Mode, making Challenge Mode even more interesting as you progress in the game. Each challenge is different, and will test your slashing skills, and help you master new techniques. Getting 3 stars in each challenge will be quite a task, one that only the most skilled zombie slashers will be able to accomplish.

Survival, or Endless Mode, is set-up just like Dark Ninja Vs. Pirate Monkey Zombies. You’re given 3 options, Tower, Waves, or Hardcore, each having different scoring mechanics, and in Hardcore Mode, you’re given only your base health and stamina, making it extremely difficult. These modes where a great deal of time will be spent after you complete the Quest Mode, especially if you’re interested in climbing online leaderboards, as each mode has it’s own board in GameCenter. Online play is comprised of Survival and Competitive play. Here, finding a match with GameCenter’s Auto-Match can be kind of difficult, as there’s not usually people online waiting to play. But if you have friends on GameCenter who have Draw Slasher: The Quest, playing against them will be loads of fun.

The graphics are awesome. Slicing up the bosses in Quest Mode is pretty graphic, as each final blow is done in a sort of clip mode, where you trace lines on the screen, then watch as blood flies everywhere, and their limbs fall off. Throughout the game, the screen is almost always full of zombies, which means the screen is almost always full of blood and the zombie’s body parts. The animations are also very well done here, adding immensely to the atmosphere of the game. It’s also Universal, meaning retina and HD supported, so you’ll be able to see all the blood and gore the way it’s meant to be seen. Music and effects are pretty much the same from Mass Creations first Draw Slasher game, but I’m not complaining because they fit the game perfectly. The controls are also flawless, making gameplay very simple to understand and master. There’s two control options, a tap setting and virtual buttons, able to be set in the right or left bottom corners. With the Survival and Online Modes, along with 4 online leader boards, and 44 GameCenter achievements, there’s pretty much endless replayability. This is a top notch title easily worth the $3 asking price.

I’m giving Draw Slasher: The Quest a score of 5/5, and can easily strongly recommend it to adventure and action fans. Gamers who loved the first Draw Slasher game will love The Quest even more.

Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/draw-slasher-the-quest/id455087584?mt=8

Mighty Fin is a new arcade game from Launching Pad Games. In it, you’ll control a fish named Fin by tapping to dive, and letting go to fly up in the air. The further you dive down, the higher up in the air you’ll go, all the while collecting bubbles, and costume pieces, while avoiding obstacles, sharks, lobsters, and more. There’s 16 levels that change up each time you play them, meaning that you’ll never play the exact same level twice.

The gameplay is a lot like Tiny Wings, which means that yes, this game is great for everyone, from hardcore gamers to casual gamers, and everyone in-between. With 16 levels, each randomly generated, you also get Survival and Endless Modes with each one of them, meaning that there’s essentially endless replay value with Mighty Fin, and that’s always a great selling point. Each of the levels has scores for bronze, silver and gold medals, and a bubble path for you to try and follow, along with gold bubbles that help boost your score, and 60 different costumes to find and unlock so you can dress Fin up throughout the game.
The graphics in Mighty Fin are outstanding. Very polished, and very cute. Along with great animations for each object and life-form, the whole world of Fin is one that’s very vibrant and colorful, and pops with retina supported devices. The controls are tight and very responsive, and along with the physics, it makes for a game full of great arcade type action and you’ll never experience accidental deaths at the hands of the game.

The endless and survival modes for the beginning of the game can be quite easy, but don’t let that turn you off from the modes, because once you unlock some of the later levels, you’ll have your hands full trying to climb your way up the 24 GameCenter leaderboards. There are, however, no achievements, which is strange, because this game could have quite a few challenges that would be great if added to an achievement list.
The latest update for Mighty Fin was HUGE, doubling the size of the game. This gives me loads of hope for the future of Fin, especially if the developers keep adding content like this. It has certainly become a game that every gamer should have, joining the ranks of Angry Birds, Tiny Wings, Cut The Rope and Fruit Ninja, which is quite the achievement for any company. Being Universal, priced only at a buck, and full of content and endless replayability, it’s definitely worth more than you’ll pay for it.

I’m giving Mighty Fin a score of 5/5, and it’s really a game that’s recommended to everyone.

Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mighty-fin/id434539624?mt=8

Zombie Slaughter is a new swiping action game from Tapkee Games. In it, you will fight wave after wave of zombies. You’re given 3 difficulties, Easy, Medium, and Hard. On Medium and Hard Modes, you’ll need to figure out strategies to take out the hordes of zombies in order to beat the game, but in Easy mode, you can pretty much just learn the movements, and how to play the game without too much of a challenge.
There is no story in the game, and very little environmental change. As you progress through the levels of 3 waves each, the platforms you can jump on will grow, but apart from that, you won’t see much different between the levels. There’s 1 health pick-up for each wave you’ll go through, and once you reach level 2, you’ll be able to pick up a sword and slice away at the zombies for a limited amount of swipes. This lack of story, or extra modes can put some people off of the game, especially since there’s no online leaderboards, achievements, and actually, no scoring system at all.

This lack of content could very well be the downfall of the game. Which is sad, because Tapkee Games has built up a very decent base for a game. The rag doll physics work extremely well with the animations, and gravity + swipe physics of the game, and the random zombie spawning leads to different types of gameplay with each and every game. But it’s plat former aspect also makes me wish that the developer would have added some virtual buttons along with the current swipe controls, and Zombie Slaughter could also use some power-ups and maybe even a shop. If all of this was added, Tapkee Games would have one hell of a game on their hands.
The lack of content can be overlooked by the amazing, addictive, action-filled gameplay, but not for too long. The developer has realized this, and has mentioned on the Touch Arcade Forums that he will be adding more content, different environments, achievements, item-drops and more weapons, as well as an endless mode.

The game, right now, is $0.99, the perfect price for a “let’s check it out” kind of attitude, and it is worth checking out. The developer has given me 5 promo codes to share with our readers, so if you’re slightly interested in the game, and are one of the first to be reading this review, you can try and snag one of ‘em;

3XEMKTR477N9

NHN4H3A7LF4W
6EP4LTPN4WJY
HHAWTRXWXATK
NTJ6YT9HR4TX

I am looking forward to future updates, and hope that this game gets more content. As it is now, I’m going to give it a rating of 2.5/5, but it has the potential to be a 4 or even 5 star game if the developer keeps working on it like he’s promised. Here’s hoping this game doesn’t fall into the huge bundle of games that have been forgotten by developers over the years.

Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/zombie-slaughter/id457408130?mt=8

iBlast Moki needs no real introduction, the physics-puzzle game from Godzilab is one of the most popular on the iOS, snagging the #2 game spot of all time on metacritic. So when iBlast Moki 2 was announced, everyone was eagerly anticipating this sequel, and for good reason. In iBlast Moki, you use bombs and other items to get Moki’s into the portal at the end of each level. The physics are amazing, the level design is top notch, and the environments are varied, and extremely vibrant. The sequel includes even more kinds of bombs and items to help the Moki’s reach the portals, the same amazing physics, even more interesting level design, and more vibrant environments, and it takes advantage of retina and HD display. There’s also a level editor and a level sharing service thrown in for endless hours of entertainment and fun.

In iBlast Moki 2, you’ll encounter some very interesting bombs, and you don’t need to play for hours to get into the new game mechanics. They are thrown at you almost from the beginning. Paint bombs that each have different characteristics, ropes, and balloons are some of the first you’ll see. There’s also objects that you can stick your Moki’s to in order to get them to the portals at the end of the levels. In the game, it’s your job to place bombs throughout the levels, and set them to go off at specific times in order to fling the Moki’s to the end while collecting all the flowers in each stage, and doing it as fast as you can. Your regular bombs are the ones that you’ll really have to play with trial and error getting the timing just right, making them explode at just the right time to send your characters off in another direction. This is done easily because the level resets every time you press the stop button in the lower left corner. The paint bombs, however, are more about where you place them, and timing isn’t really an issue with these. You’re given red, green, and orange bombs. The red acts as a bouncy liquid, and once your characters or any other objects touch it, they bounce up into the air. Green bombs act as glue, making your characters stick to whatever objects get covered in the liquid when the bomb goes off, and orange bombs act as turbo speed bombs, drawing your Moki to them, and shooting them forward at faster speeds.

Because iBlast Moki 2 is a physics-puzzle game, the physics are a huge part of it, and Godzilab has done an amazing job with them. Everything feels real, and sometimes it might seem like you’ll have to be a physics major in order to get the solutions on the first or second time through the level. I actually would not be surprised if Godzilab had some physics majors help them with this aspect of the game, as they’re done so perfectly. This, coupled with the superb level design, add a ton to the challenge of getting up on the high-score board that’s in-game in the pause menu. The top 3 scores for each level are shown, and if you’d like, you can pay 1 Moki coin, which you earn throughout the game, to see these top solutions. This, is something that’s already upsetting people. Some gamers work for hours on a level trying to get the best score they can, and then their solution, if one of the best, is saved to the server, and accessible to everyone for 1 Moki coin. Godzilab has commented on this issue, and said that they will come up with a fix for it in a future update, but until then, the best solutions for each level are there, ready to be seen by everyone, unless you play offline. This is the only bad issue I can find with iBlast Moki 2 though.

With 90 levels spread across 6 different environments, and a level editor that lets you share and download created levels, there’s pretty much endless gameplay. A cut-throat leaderboard helps immensely with the replay value, and like I’ve said, some people will spend hours with one level, and some might even spend weeks creating one. iBlast Moki 2 could very well end up being the best puzzle game in 2011, maybe even the best puzzle game for the iOS, period. The scoring mechanics are great, the graphics are cute and polished, physics are perfect, level design is mind bending, and the gameplay is endless. For $3, it’ll be pretty much impossible to find a better puzzle game out there. It’s highly recommended to fans of the genre, and new-comers to the scene alike, and is on sale for launch, so you can grab it now for a buck! The universal version is $3, and should shoot up to $5 soon. If you don’t have it yet, make sure you get it soon, because it’s going to be a game that you end up buying eventually after hearing everyone you know talk about it.

I’m giving iBlast Moki 2 a score of 5/5, with a strong recommendation to get it now.

Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iblast-moki-2/id437400857?mt=8

Destructopus: Total Rampage is a side-scrolling destruction game from GlitchSoft. In it, you play as The Destructopus, a normally peaceful creature, able to sleep at the bottom of the ocean for centuries, you’ve been awakened by greedy oil drillers. Coming to the surface, you see a polluted and dying world. Overtaken by rage, you vow revenge; Now it’s time to make the world green again. It is worth mentioning that Destructopus just went through a pretty major update recently, adding GameCenter support, a new campaign, new map, new areas, new levels, a new boss, and much, much more.

So in the game, you’ll go through 20 campaign levels, causing as much destruction as possible by hitting your tail and mouth attack buttons, as well as shooting a laser out of your eye. There’s loads of upgrades in the shop, but I’ll come back to that. You can press down on the joystick to dodge higher attacks, and lower attacks just go right by you, there’s red attack points on buildings which you need to hit with either your tail or mouth attacks in order to destroy them, and at the end of the level, you release some captured animals, which is a big theme in the game, and you can actually share posts on FaceBook about endangered animals right through the game. The destruction aspect, graphics, and controls, remind me of when I use to sit in front of the TV playing old 8 and 16-bit games. The difficulty is great, and there’s always that ‘one more time’ feeling after beating a level, or dying. There’s also some great scoring mechanics going on in the game, including a hit multiplier. If you can manage to not be hit during a level, your multiplier will shoot up, increasing the amount of money you’ll have to use for upgrades.

The shop in Destructopus is pretty large, and in it you can buy more attacks, defense upgrades, and if you’re good enough to earn loads of coinage pretty fast, you can unlock the two extra characters in the shop as well. There’s also IAPs for more coins if you’d like to upgrade right at the beginning of the game, or if you’re finding the game too difficult. But you can also always go back and replay previously beaten levels to gain some extra in-game cash, and unlock some more upgrades if you’re finding a particular level too hard to get through. The prices in the shop are a tad on the high side, but if you don’t mind a little grinding, can all be bought with gameplay. The higher leveled upgrades unlock as you make your way through the campaign, adding quite a bit to the drive of the game.

The graphics that GlitchSoft has used in Destructopus are great; Very vibrant and colorful, and spread over 4 environments. There’s loads of enemies to take on, ranging from airplanes and helicopters to army men and missiles, and some very interesting boss battles are thrown into the mix as well. The animations in the game are very good, adding a whole lot the gameplay. Seeing the little innocent pedestrians running away is always good for a laugh, and the movement is very fluid. It would be nice seeing more added to the debris with the explosions, but as they are now, they’re still pretty nice. The physics also work pretty well, when you destroy something and it comes falling down or flying forward, killing more enemies and pedestrians in the process, it does feel like it has some weight to it. The music and effects are also very nice, and add to the whole atmosphere of the game.

There’s a whole lot going for Destructopus, especially after the major content update it recently received. Great controls, nice graphics, smooth gameplay, a great upgrade shop, unlockables, spreading awareness of endangered animals, and more; Along with 35 GameCenter achievements, there’s plenty of content. But there are no GC leaderboards, and the story could use a little more plot. You don’t know why the animals you’re freeing were captured, or why they’re being eatin by bosses, and there’s no push in the progress of the story while you’re moving through the environments. Having some sort of news broadcast or something would be a nice addition. But these points don’t really effect the overall gameplay, or replayability of the game, even though leaderboards would help quite a bit to nab the attention of you score mongers out there. It’s a great side-scrolling destruction based game, filled with hours upon hours of awesome, entertaining gameplay. For $0.99, it’s a great game, and the developers have stated on the Touch Arcade Forums that they’re going to include retina graphics and make the game Universal in a future update, so be on the look-out for that.

I’m giving Destructopus: Total Rampage a score of 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/destructopus-total-ramage!/id414603435?mt=8

Ruffled: Feathers Rising is a free-roam 3D game from Pixelloop. In it, you play a bird set on taking revenge on the humans for invading their land. Just so happens that the only way you can take revenge on them is by covering them in feces, which actually makes for a pretty good game.

You’re given 5 different areas to exact your revenge; Residential, City Park, College Campus, Construction Yard and Downtown. Each is a huge open world in which you get to fly around collecting worms and gold pieces, flying through time circles, and nose-diving down to dump poo on unsuspecting people and cars. You’ll have different amounts of time for each level, starting at 5 minutes, and going up to 10, to rack up as many points and achievements as you can. There’s also practice modes for each level, which let you fly around, getting to know the layout of the level. Collecting worms adds to the amount of poop you get to drop on people and cars, while flying through rings extends your level time. You’ve got a rage meter at the bottom of the screen that rises with each successfully landed poo, and once it’s filled, the time stands still, and your points multiply. Entering Rage Mode is the only real way to get awesome scores.

Each level is filled with pedestrians and cars, and are pretty big. Flying around is done automatically, and you control your flight by pressing and dragging on the left side of the screen. The controls work reasonably well, but adding tilt controls would really help give the player the feeling of flight. The right side of the screen is tapped on when you want to drop one on someone. Each time you do, the camera follows your poop until it hits an object. This makes crashing into random objects in the world a pretty common occurrence unless you can manage to keep steering your bird while the camera is locked on your poop.

The graphics in Ruffled are pretty good. Environments are varied and detailed quite well considering how big they are. Walking and driving animations are a little funny looking, but they work. You can tell that each moving object is following a strict lined out path, but this does make it easier to plan your attacks and follow people around. The game runs relatively smooth, and hasn’t crashed or lagged out on me once. The music and effects fit the game and add to the atmosphere very nicely.

One thing I love about this game is that you can play it one of two ways. You can go achievement hunting, exploring the levels as thoroughly as possible, picking up every item you see. Or you can focus more on pooping on the people and cars, flying around in Rage Mode, and going for a high-score. I also love how each level is progressively longer than the last, and all unlocked from the moment you start up the game. So you can pick a level depending on how much time you want to spend playing the game.

There’s enough replayability to keep Ruffled on your device for some time, but without online leaderboards, you’ll only be able to beat your own previous scores. There’s also no story beyond the first intro images. It’s be great if after you finished a level, you’d get a cut-scene or series of images having the bird flying back to the flock, and telling of his wild escapades and achievements. If animations were cleared up, the story was expanded on, online functionality was added, tilt controls were thrown in, and the performance was cleaned up a tad, this would be one hell of a game. It does have Universal support going for it, so you can experience the great environments on both your iPod and iPad in the same resolution, and $2.99 for this open-world free-roam game is a pretty decent price. I do have high hopes for the game though, as the developers are active on the Touch Arcade Forums, and listening intently to iTunes AppStore reviews.

Ruffled: Feathers Rising is going to get a 3.5 out of 5 stars from me

Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ruffled-feathers-rising/id448835495?mt=8