This is a game I am definitely “fashionably late” to as they already have a second version out. Still, let’s talk about the first.
My son asked to download this app on his iPad and I knew nothing about the game but was there to supervise so allowed it. It downloads, he fires it up, and he presses start. This is the first thing that pops up:
With a timer bar at the top, decreasing slowly. He looks at me and asks me what to do.
“Press it, clearly”.
He does, and a nuclear bomb goes off in some part of the world.
The whole game is based around a series of mini games and if you do not complete them correctly or in time, your little guy dies. The deaths are done in a playful, non-mortal or gory sort of way. The “people” you are trying to protect through the mini games kind of look like less shapely Barbapapas. The mini games are varied including (but not limited to): swatting wasps, plugging bullet holes with fingers, connecting same colored wires, swatting piranhas, running from fire, ducking while poking a bear, putting mustard on a hot dog before feeding it to a snake, removing toast from a toaster with a fork, etc. etc. Things that we face in our everyday lives. They occur in randomized order throughout the experience.
As far as phone/tablet games go, it is fun. The challenges repeat in random order and get faster and faster (and fasterer, and fasteresterer) so it gets harder and more frantic on an escalating scale. A long game will last 5 minutes so it is perfect for the in and out kind of enjoyment in small and short bursts.
An interesting part for me is that that damn red button pops up randomly as well and every time the natural instinct is to press the damn thing (causing the damn explosion) but I don’t do it! Damn I want to though. What is it with human nature and big red buttons?
If you are looking for a time waster, go download it – it’s good space on your phone/tablet.
Pointless fun, but sometimes that is the best kind.