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Moon Drop (iPhone)


Review by Ben Briggs, July 20, 2009

iPhone integration (About)
  • Save state: Yes
  • iPod music: Yes
  • Status bar: No
  • Version: 1.0
  • Price as reviewed: 59p
  • by NimbleBit

As compelling as multitouch is, there's many different ideas that simply wouldn't work with it on the iPhone. Especially given the device's small screen size, five fingers at once can easily wreck a game's difficulty. Fortunately, NimbleBit recognized that fact, and so you can only use one finger in Moon Drop. No-one likes a game that's too easy.

By placing your finger on the screen you control all of the ships at once - the closer they are to your touch, the more thrust they get, so with clever finger placement you can shepherd each lander nearer the Moon's surface - careful though, if you don't slow them down enough they may disintegrate upon contact. Each lander will glow red if it is moving too fast - but fortunately Moon Drop doesn't share the annoying traits of similar lander games in which pixel perfect precision and speed is essential. In one of those games, even moving slightly too fast lead to instant death. Here, the speed threshold is a lot more tolerant, and as long as you're not landing the craft on the rocky surface you should be OK.

Instead, you must guide each lander to the main landing pad that's bang in the centre of the screen. Landing them there is enough to complete the level, but bonus points are awarded for landing in groups, and also for landing in the middle of the target. Fail to land on the pad and you'll lose one of your three lives, except if you're lucky enough to get a bonus stage which will allow crashes without penalty. Complete a wave and you'll be given a point breakdown, as well as some light hearted humour from the developers. A lot of this refers to NimbleBit's other games, although there's a number of references to well known App Store games and recent films.

For 59p it's very hard to go wrong with this game.

Scoring is, interestingly, done entirely by using Twitter. By entering your username and password, you'll post a tweet upon finishing the game, with your score and a link to the game's page in the iTunes Store. The game then cleverly collates all of these into it's leader board. Of course, the downside is that if you don't have Twitter then there's no high score option. Really though, you have no excuse as it's free and a great social networking tool.

Moon Drop is presented very well, like it's fellow games. As aforementioned, the humour in between waves is cleverly done, and the graphics are colourful. We especially liked the blue thrusters on each craft, that vary in brightness according to how far away it is from your touch. The music is on a short loop and so can get tiresome, but it's very well done anyway, providing a relaxing backdrop against which to play.

For 59p it's very hard to go wrong with this game. It has enough challenge to keep you interested, and skillful players will find their reward in the bonuses you get for good play. Pick it up and you won't be disappointed.

Grade: B, Great

A challenging game that for 59p is a no-brainer.

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