App Review – Fruit Blast!

Mobile Gaming is big business. The iTunes App Store is saturated with gaming contributions ipad dock of varying quality, and sorting the good from the bad isn’t always easy. This problem is further amplified by the issue of cost; spending your hard earned money on mobile games when free alternatives are readily available isn’t an overly promising concept. However, there will ipad stylus always be an exception to the general rule, and Fruit Blast is one such game. Created by Game Developers MEDL Mobile, and yours for only 59 pence (at the time of writing), the quality and addictive nature ipad case of this game greatly outweighs the rather minimal cost. So lock and load, and prepare yourself to tackle your daily dosage of fruit intake, as we review Fruit Blast! . Gameplay The premise of Fruit Blast is fairly simple. You control one of those fruit-phobic gun wielding types, whose role it is to shoot down various fruit based projectiles launched in your direction by a rather mischievous monkey, before they explode and obscure your view. Allow too many of your five-a-day to splatter your screen and its game over, yet destroy enough projectile pears or connection kit ballistic bananas to pass the level and you’ll succeed. Simple in concept, yet difficult in execution, and highly addictive; Fruit Blast will have you glued to your Apple Device for hours. “Kids are always looking for a game with great graphics, which normally includes blood, guts and violence! States Co-Creator Mark Lewis. Fruit Blast, however, offers all the fun in a more PG format.” Alongside a variety of ipad dock oem weapons to help your cause, you’re also equipped with a handy window-wiper, or “squeegee”, which swiftly removes all fruit debris from your screen – be careful to use this tool infrequently though, as supplies are limited, and you never know when it could come in handy. Advancing up the levelling ladder will grant access to new weaponry and types of fruit you’ll encounter, and the speed and difficulty of projectiles gracing your screen will also ramp up considerably. Whilst balancing aiming and firing, you also need to be aware of your current ammunition count. Neglecting to feed your chosen weapon a steady supply of ammo will result in the infamous ‘click’ of an empty barrel and an all too familiar plastering of mangled fruit pulp across your screen. ipad keyboards Nice! From a control perspective, Fruit Blast takes full advantage of the built in gyroscope present in Apple’s touch screen products, providing the user with a rather clever tilt-to-aim-control instead of the standard touch-to-fire you would expect. This is a welcome adaptation; as almost all first person shooter titles available via the App Store apple peel case feature the same controlling mechanism, offering little individuality between products. Although touch-to-fire as a control works well, as already suggested, it’s been done a hundred times over, and through the design of Fruit Blast MEDL Mobile have installed a breath of fresh air to the incredibly popular mobile gaming platform. That being said, there is a small criticism that comes with this praise – Aiming with the gyroscope is fresh and fun, however it would thus useful to fire your weapon with any touch of the screen, rather than confining the user to the dedicated ‘FIRE’ button, located all the way down in the bottom right corner. A small criticism, yet easily overcome by the numerous Bluetooth headsets positives this game has to offer. Those looking for a shortcut to the end-game will find their requirements catered to also. Fruit Blast offers Micro-Transactions through the purchase of in game currency, seeds, with which gamers can unlock new weaponry or advance to higher levels ahead of time. Those who wish to play the game as intended will be rewarded with seeds too, but at a reduced rate, meaning you’ll have to work for that Uzi or to unlock level 9. . Graphics and Presentation Fruit Blast isn’t the prettiest of the bunch, however it’s cartoon-like graphics are easy on the eye, and pleasant enough not to hinder enjoyment. Although it’s fair to say MEDL Mobile missed a trick when compared to the visual beauty of similar titles, such as ‘Fruit Ninja‘, impressive visuals are no substitute for great gameplay, and as already discussed, what Fruit Blast lacks in visual quality, it greatly makes up for in addictive gameplay. ” Medl Mobile a leader in mobile application development and the company behind internationally successful apps such as Note to God and the #1 hit, Mall Maps, have created a brand new game that is fun for all ages. Using a variety of weapons, fight off blasts of fruity bombs hurled your way by a sinister little monkey. “ That’s sim cutter not to say that Fruit Blast is an ugly game, far from it. As you can see from the screenshots that litter this review, Fruit Blast is a rather visually appealing title, however the odd blocky image lets the game down slightly in this respect. Projectile fruit is a particular area where this problem is present, although it does only appear to affect one or two of the fruit images, and so it would be unfair to grade this latest offering from MEDL ipad cover Mobile poorly, on the grounds of this alone. Furthermore, the majority of the graphics used in this game are colourful and vibrant, and greatly make up for the odd low-quality image. With the fruit that covers your screen cleverly created, and the arsenal of weapons available each having their own unique look, it’s hard to criticise such a clearly creative title on the grounds of its looks, which will certainly appeal to the casual gamer anyway, regardless of the few ‘jaggies‘ that are present. . Conclusion Providing the casual gamer with a fruity blend of First Person Shooter gameplay, resource management with regards to ammunition, and the in-built gyroscope as a motion control, Fruit Blast is a highly successful title, and one that is most certainly worthy of the rather miniscule price tag attached to it. A gaming title of unusual stimulating and addictive nature, given the platform that it has been developed on; Fruit Blast is a great contender to replace Angry Birds as your favourite Gaming App. A casual game of this quality is unlikely to retain its current pricing structure for long, as so my closing comment would this – Grab this title while you can and whilst it’s still cheap as chips, as I guarantee that by the time 2011 rolls around, Fruit Blast will be a highly successful title, with a new price tag to reflect this substantial growth in popularity.