Quick Look: Hurdler for iPhone
When I first saw Hurdler in the “new games” list at Touch Arcade I thought to myself, “nah, it couldn’t be THAT Hurdler”. Sure enough it was, and with a quick price drop to 99 cents it was an instant buy for me. So what exactly is Hurdler? Well, it’s the best stick figure hurdle jumpin’ puzzle platform game around, that’s what. If you’re still a bit confused, let me explain further.
The basic goal behind Hurdler is to get to the golden balloon at the end of each level. To do that, however, you must avoid all the obstacles that stand between you and that balloon. Obstacles range from the common items like hurdles (hence the name) and garbage cans, to the sublimely silly like rubber ducks. From the time the level starts you are in constant motion forward, so to avoid all these things you must jump above – or sometimes through – them. Your arsenal consists of four moves: normal jump, high jump, short jump and long jump. The platform part of the game comes from the fact that you’re constantly moving forward through a horizontally configured level, much like any old platform game. The puzzle part comes from the fact that you must determine the best jump at any given time to avoid the obstacles immediately in front of you – and to position you in the right spot for things coming down the road.
Lookin' Through Rose Colored Glasses
Therein lies both the beauty and frustration of Hurdler. Often times a particular jump might be enough to get you over an immediate obstacle, but it might put you too close to the next obstacle to react appropriately. As the levels get more challenging, you will find yourself playing them multiple times in order to find the right combination of jumps for a particular puzzle. The only problem with this is your save game is based on still being alive at the end of a level, so once you’ve used up all your lives you’ll be starting over from the very beginning of the game. Hope you’re good at memorizing patterns! To control the hurdler you simply click the portion of the screen tied to each action – upper part of the screen for high jump, lower part for normal jump, left side for short jump and right side for long jump. This works reasonably well, but I would have liked to have the option of a small directional pad in the upper left or right corner of the screen.
The graphics have a great Super Nintendo look to them, including decently detailed foregrounds and the faded background look that was often employed in SNES games. I love the animations of the hurdler himself, especially when he slips on a rubber duck. The sound effects are a perfect compliment to the jumpy on-screen action. The only thing that’s a bit annoying is the screech of the bird that flies by at random intervals to try and thwart your progress. The music sounds good, but does get repetitive after a while. A separate track for each level set would have been cool.
Playing this brought back a lot of fond (and frustrating) memories of hurdling on my PC. This game is a perfect fit for the small screen, and an absolute blast to play. My only hope for a future revision is that they add the on-screen controls as an option. Otherwise, there isn’t a whole lot to not like here. With 90 levels broken into three sets – at least one of which was created especially for the iPhone – there’s plenty to keep you entertained for awhile. At the current price of 99 cents it’s a steal, and even when it goes back up to $1.99 it’s worth the price.
Final Verdict: Recommended
App Store Link
App Shopper Link
Hurdler Classic – PC version
[Note: image courtesy of App Shopper]
Tags: Eric Pankoke, Hurdler, Quick Look, review, technobrains
