Disclaimer: First of all I regret to announce that this game was published by Ketchapp, so expect plenty of intrusive popup ads.
Stick Man Rush [Free] for iOS is an isometric endless driver with a 3 lane swipe-to-move control mechanic.
The game art is very nice, beautiful even. The artist Guillaume Kurkdjian did a fantastic job with the environment which features a variety of cars, obstacles and rich backgrounds, all which have clean crisp edges and a delightful colour pallet reminiscent of Monument Valley. When I first saw the screen shots I must confess that I pee’d in my pants.
Ok, so now that we are done with the pleasantries let’s get to business.
The game play sucks.
There is absolutely nothing new or unique to the game play, in fact I would go as far as saying that it’s perhaps one of the more disappointing games of this genre.
First of all, this game should never have been made portrait, or at least it should have had the option of going landscape. Sure portrait is more accessible as it can be played one handed, but let’s get the game play right first.
The control system is woeful. Swiping Up moves the player left, down moves right and right swiping jumps.
In a sane world swiping left would move the player left, right swiping to move right and up would jump. For some strange reason this is not the case. It’s something you need to experience for yourself to fully understand the jarring feeling.
I suspect the developer may have done this intentionally to make the game more difficult in the pursuit of the Flappy Bird effect, rather that addressing difficulty appropriately though balancing and clever level design.
Speaking of level design, there really is none. Obstacles are thrown at you at what seem like random patterns with no progression/difficulty curve. It’s frustrating, and not in a good way.
Combine the above with a barrage of full screen video ad pop-ups every few game plays and you have the makings for a pretty underwhelming gaming experience.
It’s a crying shame when a game looks so pretty yet suffers from uninspiring generic game play.
This of course is just my opinion. Have a play and report back your own findings, just don’t let the ads trip you up!
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