Hooga
Score: 68% ESRB: Not Rated Publisher: Chillingo Developer: Iquilibrium Studios Media: Download/1 Players: 1 Genre: Action/ Platformer (2D)
Graphics & Sound: If you were to put together a list of essential action platformer elements, Hooga would hit a majority of them. Multiple weapons, tricky jumping puzzles, giant bosses... Hooga has them all. If there's one thing Hooga is missing, it's polish. Hooga looks nice and attempts to toss in a lot of visual variety. Hooga, the dinosaurs he bashes, and levels all have a sharp, distinct look that really pops off the iPhone's screen. There's a lot of detail here and you'll want to look all around just to see what little touches you can see. Look too long, however, and you'll start to see some of that "lack of polish" begins to sprout up. I noticed a few visual artifacts (pixel-lined edges) on some of the background items and at least one area where a portion of an object was missing. It's nothing particularly game-ruining, though it's a noticeable herald of things to come. Hooga also suffers from incredibly rigid animation. Characters have a stop-motion look that would work with a slower-paced game. Instead, it causes everyone to look like they're bizarrely gliding across areas. Although Hooga only stumbles visually, audio falls flat. The soundtrack doesn't fit the game at all. I can usually let this slide - particularly if it at least enhances gameplay in some way - but it's so out of place, it's distracting.
Gameplay: If anything, Hooga deserves credit for aiming high. Compared to other iOS platformers I've taken for a spin, Hooga is one of the larger ones. Levels are expansive and feature numerous tricks, traps and dinosaurs to bash and slash your way through. The number of things you can do is just as abundant. Though it starts out as what looks like a simple platformer, by the end of the lengthy "Boot Camp," Hooga will be running, climbing and using all sorts of stone age weapons. Although levels are sizeable, you're only actively tackling an obstacle about half the time. You'll spend a lot of time running across flat areas. If you're lucky, you'll have to fight a dinosaur. While unarmed, you might need to time a spin jump attack, though if you have a weapon, you can just spam the attack button and kill enemies the minute they appear on the screen. Even though Hooga throws a lot at players, it rarely feels satisfying. I spent more time wondering if the level was almost over than I did just about anything else. That isn't to say there aren't a few flourishes of fun tucked away in each level, but even then, you're forced to fight the floaty controls and goofy mechanics.
Difficulty: Hooga is, at best, erratic. In general, levels are easy to blast through as long as you can find some way to cope with the controls. You'll never get to the point where you want to toss your iPhone, but there will be a few frustrated button taps to close out the app. Other than the issues generally facing virtual gamepads, Hooga suffers from a complete lack of weight. Even if you manage to figure out the controls, platforming never feels right. Hooga floats between platforms more than he jumps. It's hard to get an accurate gauge of how much thrust to put into jumps. Expect to fall through numerous gaps. Hooga is good about placing checkpoints in key areas, though you will need to retrace your steps often. Boss fights are another issue entirely. They're bland and usually consist of a bigger dinosaur moving from left to right on the screen, launching projectiles with every pass. It's a classic mechanic lifted from other platformers, only Hooga ignores the patterns that usually come with the mechanic. Instead, bosses are stacked with hit points. There's usually some sort of cheap tactic you can use to kill them, but this just robs you of any sense of accomplishment you might have salvaged from levels.
Game Mechanics: The more I play games on iOS devices, the more I become a major supporter of building games around the control type you have, not the control type you would like to have. Touch-based gaming is one of the cooler things to come out of this generation of handhelds and I love some of the control mechanics that have grown out of it. The one I'm not fond of is virtual gamepads, and Hooga offers a prime example of why. Considering the number of gameplay tasks Hooga tosses at players, it's great to see how compact the controls are. Hooga features a virtual thumb pad used to navigate levels. Other actions are handled with a "Spring" button, which lets Hooga jump, while weapons are tied to a weapon button. The layout is great, but never works. If you hit the Spring button while in the air, he'll use a spin attack. Hold the button, and he'll glide. The problem is, the touch screen has a hard time distinguishing between the two. So, you might glide when you want to attack, or vice versa (or, on rare occasion, do nothing). It's a pain and ends up presenting more problems than it should. At 99 cents, Hooga is the sort of game you can buy and, if you don't like it, not feel like you were cheated out of your money. At the same time, there are better, similarly priced games available that offer something for your money. If you're dead set of picking up an inexpensive action platformer, Hooga delivers everything you could ask provided you can get over the rollercoaster difficulty and control issues.
-Starscream, GameVortex Communications AKA Ricky Tucker
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