App A Day Review: Saving Private Sheep For iPhone/iPod Touch
You might have missed it if you weren’t paying attention, but Apple has quietly blown past video game titans Sony and Nintendo in mobile game selection. In fact, one could argue that the iPad boasts the largest launch library for any video game platform in history.
During the recent iPhone OS4 developer preview, Apple’s senior vice president of software Scott Forstall pointed out that there are currently 50,000 games and entertainment apps available on the App Store. In contrast, there are currently 4,231 games available for DS and just 2,477 for PSP. “Gaming is extremely popular on the iPhone and iPod touch,” Forstall claimed. “We have over 50,000 titles. Let’s look at the competition. If you look at dedicated gaming devices like the PSP and DS, this just blows them out of the water.”
Unlike the DS and PSP, the entire game library in the app store is downloadable. No cartridges, no UMD’s, no physical packaging of any kind. The price of most games in the app store are unheard of in the traditional mobile game space. How about the sheer volume of free apps available? Gamers have it pretty good with their idevices. Developers are doing pretty good as well, 80+ million devices connect to iTunes for downloading games, that’s a pretty good marketplace for an indie developer.
The quality is where things get a little dicey, while you’ll definitely see some mediocre titles for the PSP and DS, the App Store is filled with a lot of really horrible games and poorly executed ideas. That makes it easier to spot the gems, like the latest from Bulkypix “Saving Private Sheep”
The game is a very polished distinctive puzzle game for iPhone and iPod touch. The game is described as a “…physics-based puzzler that combines logic, dexterity and strategy to achieve victory.”
At first I wasn’t sure what to expect, a sheep parody of Saving Private Ryan? Why am I saving sheep? Is Tom Hanks responsible? When I finally started playing, I realized that this was a creative knock off of Crush The Castle. Don’t worry, that’s a good thing.
Saving Private Sheep opens with a slick animation that sets up the story of the game. There’s a war brewing between the pesky wolves and the peace loving sheep who only want one thing; to reclaim their grazing grounds. Help the Woolen Warrior conquer the enemy territory by leading it into the secure zone.
At each level your presented with a puzzle featuring your sheep sitting atop a variety of objects like boxes and barrels. Tapping on an item will cause them to break or explode and the physics kick in causing your sheep to drop. If he drops off the platform, he’ll be lunch for the wolves waiting below. As you progress through the levels, they get more perplexing.
The developers surprised me with a variety of twists that are woven into the structure of the puzzles. Just when you think you’ve figured it out and expect to breeze through the game, there’s a new type of puzzle or a surprising little twist.
While the puzzle design is well thought out, Saving Private Sheep really excels with its character personality and sound design. A repetitive game like this needs a likable character and sound effects that won’t irritate you during extended play.
The game separates itself from other games in the app store by paying attention to the details. The art and animation is sharp and vibrant with a number of visual gags sprinkled throughout the game
Saving Private Sheep takes the Woolen Warrior through a progressively difficult 80 levels.
The game features:
• Quirky Humor, fight between Wolfs and Sheep
• More than 80 levels with new level packages on the way
• Social Platform Openfeint included
• New level pack to come (in-app purchase)
• iPad version in production
While I could see this being $1.99 it’s currently on sale for $2.99 and there is no word on what the iPad version will sell for.
If you like these kinds of puzzle games you can’t go wrong with this slick, professional and engaging game from Bulkypix
Saving Private Sheep From Bulkypix $2.99 in the iTunes Store
