One of the frustrations that face iOS gamers is that unique games can be hard to come by – many games are extremely similar to one another, and it’s not often that a truly unique offering comes along to shake things up. Slap it Up Platinum by TORR begs to differ, offering a gameplay experience that is both unique and challenging – and because of that, it caught my attention in ways few iOS games ever do.
Slap it Up is a unique app based around the idea of creating unique handshakes, and doubles as a memory game, challenging the user to watch a slap sequence, and then follow it quickly before the time expires. In reality, Slap it Up is a game only in the secondary sense – the primary function of the app is creating unique handshakes to share with friends, colleagues, club members, and so forth.
When you first launch the app, you are prompted to register as a user. One of the things that disappointed me at first was the lack of Facebook or other social login systems. Instead of signing in through Facebook, you must create (and remember) a new login just for the game. Those of us that already have a lot of logins to remember don’t necessarily appreciate having to create yet another login.
As part of the one-time setup process when Slap it Up is first launched, the app must download the video files for each of the 15 gestures. This can take a while, and should be done over WiFi, as your iPhone’s cellular network isn’t always sufficient to download the app’s required content. The app’s experience could be significantly improved by bundling those gestures directly withun the app rather than requiring users to download them at first launch.
Despite my disappointment with the setup process, once you’re in, it’s all smooth sailing moving forward. Creating unique handshakes is both simple and entertaining – you can choose between 15 different handshake gestures. You can also link multiple handshake gestures together to create a more challenging compound handshake. Once you’ve created your handshake, you can there share it with your friends using email, social media, or SMS/iMessage.
The Challenge section is where things get interesting – and where Slap it Up transforms from a handshake app into a challenging memory-type game. In the challenge section, you will be shown sequences made of various “slaps.” Your goal is to carefully watch each sequence, and then reproduce it from scratch before the time runs out. This can be quite a challenge – and to add to the challenge, there’s also a scoring system, so you can compete against yourself to beat your previous times (or the previous times of other users).
Slap it Up’s theme music is catchy and upbeat – but it can get annoying overtime. Fortunately, you can easily turn off the theme song from the app’s settings if you do end up getting tired of it.
Slap it Up is a fun and enjoyable app – but I can’t help feeling that the experience could be improved by integrating Facebook login, and eliminating the need to download the gestures when you first launch the app. One of the weaknesses of the app is that the Challenge portion of the game has a very limited replay value – I only found it enjoyable for an hour or so, and then put it aside due to boredom. It’s lack of iPhone 5 optimization also concerned me, considering it’s $1.99 price – at twice the cost of Angry Birds, iPhone 5 optimization is an expectation rather than a mere convenience.
I did enjoy Slap it Up quite a bit before the magic wore off. Unfortunately, that happened far to quickly for my tastes (and for its $1.99 asking price). All things considered, I award Slap it Up 3 out of 5 stars. It’s a unique and enjoyable app – but it’s limited replay value makes it difficult to justify keeping it on your device. The app is available now for $1.99 through the App Store.
