Gamertell

Title: Archibald’s Adventures
Price: $4.99
System(s): iPhone, iPod Touch
Release Date: January 8, 2009
Publisher (Developer): Rake in Grass
ESRB Rating: 4+
Pros: Small levels are great for on the go
Cons: A few levels feel ridiculously short, controls sometimes aren’t as responsive as need be.
Overall Score: One thumb up and one thumb sideways; 85 out of 100; B; *** 1/2.

Archibald’s Adventures makes its platformer debut on the iPhone and the iPod Touch with quite the praise behind it. Before being ported over to Apple’s handhelds, Archibald was skating across PC, Mac and even PocketPC screens where it delighted the lot of people who played it.

Keeping that in mind, I went along Archibald’s Adventures with some expectations most of which were pleasantly realized.

The game carries a kid-friendly plot that pits Archibald and his friends in a totally radical skateboard jumping contest that ends up send Archibald deep into Professor Klumpfus’s mansion. The goal of the game revolves around getting both Archibald and the professor out of the mansion when the professor’s central computer system locks them in with genetic experiments gone awry.

The art style really reminds me of an a Saturday morning cartoon, something like that old show Doug on Nickelodeon. While that may not appeal to the larger portion of the iPhone/iPod Touch audience, lighthearted gamers will find it pleasing especially considering there are over 100 levels to play through.

While 100+ levels may seem like a lot (and it is), the levels are really tiny nuggets that can be finished in as little as twenty seconds. Don’t get me wrong, the puzzles can get a little tough at times but they still rarely take over 15 minutes. Even though small levels that can be finished quickly are something iPhone/iPod Touch games really need, they also diminish the value of having so many levels in the first place.

Another problem I ran into with this game is the controls. They aren’t particularly terrible but for some reason I couldn’t always get them to respond right when I need them to. For instance, I could be skating Archibald over a few spike pits and fail to try and stop before I hit a death ray. As far as I could see, there was no place to adjust the sensitivity of the controls, you can move them around your screen but that’s it.

Something that Archibald’s Adventures does avoid is game bugs. I can say of the many times I played the game, my iPhone never crashed which on the iPhone, is a bit of a miracle. You can also opt to play the game in portrait or landscape orientation, though I highly recommend landscape.

The important question though is what is the game worth? Right now on iTunes, the game sells for $4.99 and at the price I do think that experiencing Archibald’s Adventure is worth your money. While I don’t agree with the length of the levels, buyers will still get around 50 or so proper length levels.

If platforming is your genre, then Archibald’s Adventures is one that you do want to go on.     

Official Site [Archibald’s Adventure]

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