A totally tropical taste
[THUMB1]
I and I be swingin'
Nitako's Rasta Monkey has hit the iTunes Apps store just in time to cash in on some of the best weather we've had in ages. The gap toothed Tam-wearing simian is the perfect partner for a bit of blue-sky gaming, assuming you can see your iPhone / iPod's highly polished screen in the glare of the sunshine.
Taking cues from classic platformers, and giving them a touch-twist, Nitako have produced a highly challenging (and sometimes frustrating) collect 'em up that is very nicely presented indeed and won't set you back more than a quid 20.
So what's the deal with our jah-fearing monkeychap? Read on, Macduff.
[THUMB2]
Breddahood of Monkey
General Rastamonkey the 3rd has set you a list of tasks that must be performed if you're to enter the higher echelons of rasta monkey society. To kick off, the aged and wise monkey guide gets you to collect fruit from the jungles of Jamdown. Once he's done lecturing you, you can start to exercise your nimble monkey form and get down and dirty with the control system.
Pressing a finger anywhere on the screen will move your swinging monkey in the direction of your digit. At first, you're given some helpful pointers as to where to press but later on these will disappear and things will get a lot tougher.
Basic swinging moves could be where this title has attracted comparisons with Sway, the other swingy-collecty iStore hit of the moment but the comparison is a bit unfair. Whereas Sway is quite a measured and slow-but-steady game, Rasta Monkey is quite pacey and once you get a feel for how you move, you'll be swinging from branch to branch like you were born to it.
Hitting flags along the way will mark off checkpoints, very handy when you start to lose your grip and end up hurtling to your doom.
Once you've sussed out how to move, you need to learn how to swing. Touching two fingers on the screen will start your monkey on an endless circling swing around the branch he's on, and it's up to you to lift both fingers off the screen at the opportune time, a bit like throwing the hammer at your school sports day. Time it wrong, and your monkey will end up faceplanting on the ground. Time it just right and he'll swing off in a gentle arc to grab the nearest branch. Again to start with, you get a nice arrow pointer showing you which direction you're going to fly off in, but later on this arrow is taken away once the difficulty levels start to ramp up. One last control to remember - jab both fingers on the screen lightly, and your monkey will drop off to a lower branch. Make sure you've got something under you though or you're on a one way trip to monkey hospital.
[THUMB3]
How does Bob Marley like his Doughnuts? Wi' Jam in?
Rasta Monkey's controls will take a bit of fiddling around with to get used to, but once you realise how to do the basics, you can really start to leap around athletically and collect every last piece of fruit on each level. Once you get to the end of a level, grab the flagpole Mario-style to finish and your score based on fruit collected is calculated.
Rasta Monkey is very nicely presented indeed, with its own line in funky tunes, cute kawaii graphics and plenty of loopy sound effects.
Level design is excellent, and it goes without saying that Monkey's flight through the jungle is strewn with hazards, nasty nefarious character who would like to make a monkey stew out of him, and lots of cool little puzzley bits that should keep you playing right through to the end.
Rasta Monkey is a little on the short side and shouldn't trouble a dedicated touch gamer for too long, but it's an enjoyable little romp, slightly more approachable than Sway but perhaps not quite as polished. It would've been nice to have had the option to play an easy mode where the screen arrow prompts are left on till the end of the game, but it's not a deal breaker though some might find their suddent disappearance a little frustrating.
That said, it's worth the cash, and deserves to do well against this week's other big releases.
Honda and Viper coming to iPhone Street Fighter
(0) (10/09) 
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#1 - Syrok - on 21/03/2009 at 22:16 wrote:
#2 - Micro_Explosion - on 21/03/2009 at 22:21 wrote:
It's another thing that's great about App Store releases.
#3 - peej - on 22/03/2009 at 16:00 wrote: