gamescom 2011: Chillingo iOS Roundup

Martin takes a look at Contre Jour, Roll in the Hole, Swing the Bat, Gum Drop, and Pixel Ranger.

Swing the Bat

It's a joke, you see. You're not swinging a bat, but you're a swinging bat, in a game that's a bit of a mix between Tiny Wings and one of those rope swinging titles.

As it happens, then, you're swinging forwards to avoid the sun - which, thinking about it, actually makes a lot more sense with a nocturnal bat than it did with Tiny Wings. Still, Swing the Bat's inspirations are painfully obvious to see: complete certain tasks, for instance, and you'll level up in a manner essentially identical to Tiny Wings' nests.

The actual movement, though, is more about effective grappling than sliding across terrain, and the traversal of the environment has a nice physical heft to it.

While its inspirations are plain to see, Swing the Bat might just have enough individuality to stand apart from the games it's desperately looking to emulate.

Gum Drop

I won't lie: at first glance you'd be forgiven for thinking Gum Drop was some kind of child's edutainment game.

Your little gummies speak words, and you need to find the corresponding icon on the adjacent grid. The red gum wants ice cream? You find the picture of an ice cream, and then you look for the centaur that the blue gum seems to fancy.

Get the desired item and the gummies, which rapidly puff up after making their request, will shrink back down to regular size. The enemy is the clock, then, with you racing to spot the items before the gum tower swells to the top of the screen and results in a game over.

The cutesy graphics and infantile concept belie the fact it becomes bloody hard after a couple of minutes, and you'll have to spot items quickly and tactically - items fall down in blocks, and if you pop a block above another you'll automatically clear the screen of everything beneath.

Pixel Ranger

Pixel Ranger was originally designed as a Facebook game, but has now made the shift to iOS with various gyroscope-based additions. You're shooting down ambiguous invaders, but the real enemy is your ammunition - run out and you're completely boned.

Your character is controlled by tilting the iDevice left or right, and you can fire anywhere across the screen. Bullets are fired in a wide spread, and enemies make a bee-line to your character.

Advance past the first couple of levels and you'll be met with tougher enemies, including foes that creep across the ground, but you'll also be able to get your hands on bigger and better weaponry.

It's fairly standard stuff, but Pixel Ranger is made more enjoyable thanks to the endearing neon-8bit aesthetic. If you remember the NES, you'll probably fancy giving this one a couple of goes.