The App Store is filled with great apps, and to get your app on to the top of the charts you have to make it unique, interesting and well-produced. Today we’ll see if Turtle World for iPad and iPhone ($0.99, App Store) can pass the test and make it to the top of the app charts.
Starting the app
In Turtle World you play as a tiny turtle, trying to avoid getting caught by dangerous animals by throwing your shell at them. By tilting your device and using the accelorometer you guide your turtle on the screen in a way that reminds me a lot of the old game Asteroids. Your enemies are appearing from the sides of the screen, and hitting them as quickly as possible is the key to success.
When you first start up the app you are forced to choose in what position you are playing – with your iOS device lying down on a table, or if you are holding it upright – a setting which is quite unique, and definitely something that made me happy when I first started playing. This means that I can easily play this game while sitting at my TV table, or when I lie in bed – the accelorometer will work either way I choose.
Gameplay
The game consists of four worlds, and the further you progress in the game, the more difficult it becomes. Advancing to new worlds is done by completing tasks for the previous world. There are tons of achievements to unlock and the app has support for Game Center (which by the way should be mandatory these days).
By eating different snails during the fight for your life as a turtle, your shell will get time limited super powers. For example, if you pick up a black snail your shell will become explosive, a red snail will set your shell on fire and a blue snail will give your shell wings.
Sound and visuals
When it comes to sound and visuals, Turtle World doesn’t stand out from the crowd. The music is playful but very monotonic, and since nothing on the screen is moving except you and your enemies, the visuals become somewhat static. Sometimes when you throw your shell at an enemy and the shell bounces away into one of the bushes on the screen, the shell disappears and will be difficult to see – something I would call an irritating bug, not a feature.
Verdict
This is an app that at first sight looks cute, fun and intriguing, but after playing it for a while you might find yourself turning the music off and realizing that the lack of nice animations makes this game quite boring. It seems as the app sometimes gets stuck in some kind of no-mans-land in a few of the worlds, where I can run around with my turtle without facing any monsters. And I am afraid that the fact that the app crashes every 15 minutes does not help kicking up my rating for it.
It really sounds like I am in a grumpy mood today, but this is unfortunately an app that should have been tested for a while longer before the release – too many bugs and glitches for my taste. The only thing that brings this app up a bit in my rating is what I described earlier – the possibility to choose the accelorometers perspective.
Pros:
- Possibility to choose accelerometers perspective
- The app is quite cute
Cons:
- Static graphics
- Crashes very often
- Bugs that gets me stuck in the game
[rating:2]
My rating for Turtle World ($0.99, App Store) is 2 out of 5. Unless you can’t find any other apps to buy right now, please wait until Turtle World gets updated before you consider buying it.
