Quick Look: Smash It Up for the iPhone
Some games really aren’t meant for much more than acting as a nice stress reliever. You know what I mean: the type of game that allows you to do something virtually that you wouldn’t dream of doing in reality? As luck would have it, Smash It Up is just such a game. The basic premise is that you throw bricks at things. The more difficult the target is to hit, the more points you get. And, if you hit the objects you get the pleasure of watching them get wrecked in some way. There are two modes to the game. Time Attack is single player, and gives you 60 seconds to hit as many objects as you can. You get a few seconds added to your time for each successful hit, but everything takes time, from moving around the scene to watching your brick hurtle towards an object. In versus mode you can play against the computer or another person, and you get 4 rounds of 3 bricks each to see who can score the most points. There is no time limit on this mode.
The main problem with this game is that it needs more variety. There are four different characters to choose from, but no discernable difference between them. There is only one scene to play in, and while it’s pretty cool the first couple of times to see how each object reacts to getting hit by a brick, the thrill dies quickly. The other big gripe I had is that it’s difficult to select a brick for throwing, which is livable on the versus mode, but can make timed mode a bit of a nightmare. I tend to find myself often shifting the view of the screen instead of dragging a brick towards an object. One minor issue I ran into was that the instructions are not clear about how to determine the power of your throw. After you’ve selected an object to destroy a gauge appears, but they don’t tell you that you actually have to flick on the gauge to use it appropriately. This is just a minor instructional correction.
It's A Brick House
The graphics in the game are really good. The objects look decent both in pre and post-destruction modes, and the animations when an object gets hit are all well done. The characters look good as well, but the only time you really get to see them is in the selection process (full body) and during half time and end game (portraits). Half time only applies to versus mode as well. The sound effects are pretty much spot on. With a couple of exceptions, everything sounds just like you’d expect it to when getting hit by a brick. The music is actually pretty good too, but unfortunately only plays during the menus. This is a terrible trend that many mobile game developers follow and need to stop.
This game is a lot of fun in small spurts, but the lack of variety mean you probably won’t play it for more than a couple of games at a time, and most likely won’t put it on your “every day” list either. At the current price of $2.99 I’m really on the fence about recommending this one. Should it drop to 99 cents at some point, that would be the perfect time to get Smash It Up and start relieving your stress brick style.
App Store Link:Smash It Up
Tags: ALL THINGS MOBILE, Comprehensive Reviews, Eric Pankoke, Quick Look, Smash It Up, Stress Relief, Tag Games, technobrains
