Round Up Some Penguins in ‘Arctic Escape’ for iPhone [Review]

Arctic Escape for iPhone
[rating: 4/5]

Arctic Escape for iPhoneArctic Escape is a simple yet unique puzzle game for the iPhone. You use commands to help corral penguins into a helicopter. Penguins into a helicopter you ask? Yes, the penguins have been abducted from Antarctica by an evil scientist and guess who gets to help get them back home: YOU! You will use commands to guide the penguins through levels and avoid obstacles. The goal is to get all of the penguins to the helicopter in a timely fashion.

As I mentioned earlier, the control system in Arctic Escape is incredibly easy to wrap your head around. You see a list of controls at the bottom of the screen that tell your penguins to go up, down, left, right and jump. You also have the option to erase something you put down by accident which I must say happens quite often with the screen size of the iPhone. You use the controls I mentioned to guide the penguins past traps that try to keep them from getting to the helicopter. Traps like breaking ice, holes, collapsing bridges and cages. If you plan out your routes carefully, these obstacles can be avoided but the maps always seem to find a way to throw your curveballs.

Arctic Escape iPhoneA word to the wise, try to space out your penguins so that they do not run into one another. This will help make them do what you intend to do. If they run into one another sometimes they will change directions unexpectedly and cause you to lose a penguin. As you progress through the game, other obstacles rear their ugly heads. These obstacles such as a hungry wolf and gates that have switches to open them can throw a kink in your plans so be careful.

This gameplay is very simple as you can tell but it is extremely addictive. This is a great thing because there are over one hundred levels that will challenge you along the way. There are 8 separate worlds with thirteen levels each. This may seem like too many at first but I can tell you as I progressed it was awesome to know that there was plenty more fun to be had and that the game would not be ending soon. The replay value due to this fact alone is awesome. I also love the fact that with 8 icy worlds the settings seem to continually change. This along with the continually changing challenges that you see along the way, the game is never dull and is always testing your wits. On top of the difficulty is the fact that being able to get Arctic Escapethrough the levels quickly is how you get the best score. However, attempting to speed through the levels quickly is what gave me trouble so remain cautious when you increase the pace.

The visual and audio presentation of this app is nothing over the top but is ample for the extremely addictive puzzler gameplay. The type of game plays a large role in what you can do visually and how you should approach it audibly and they do a great job of both in this game. Too much focus in these areas would most certainly have taken away from level design and gameplay and those two things take the cake. The audio is great and the adorable penguins were well received by my wife. I would highly recommend this game to puzzlers who are looking for a nice long play that is extremely addictive.

Pros

  • Over 100 Levels
  • Addictive Gamplay
  • Simple Controls

Cons

  • Better Visuals wouldn’t hurt
  • A little difficult to place actions on smaller iphone screen

$0.99
Category: Games
Released: Mar 30, 2011
Version: 1.0.0
1.0.0 (iOS 4.0 Tested)
Size: 30.9 MB
Languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish
Seller: Teyon
© 2011 Teyon. All rights reserved.
Rated 4+
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.2 or later

Advertisement

Leave a Reply