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One of the strangest phenomena surrounding smartphone gaming is the way movie tie-in
games have stopped being utter tripe on iOS and Android.
There are still examples of phoned-in advergame junk on those two platforms, of course, but
by and large movie games on mobile have finally managed to shake off the shackles of mediocrity
that have been bound to tie-in games on home console for years.
Sadly for all concerned, Wreck-it Ralph on iOS marks a return to the dark old days of
underwhelming gaming tie-ins.
And when you consider the possibilities of the licence - the Wreck-It Ralph film is set
within the digital world, and features characters from arcade games both real and imagined - it's
hard to fathom quite how the developer could muck this adaptation up so much.
The premise, at least, is reasonably interesting. Rather than simply play through the plot of
the movie, you're a kid in the arcade where the main characters reside, given the chance
to play one of three different cabinets (Fix-it Felix Jr., Sugar Rush Sweet Climber, and Hero's
Duty).
Fix-it Felix Jr. is a retro-styled mini-game in which you clean up the mess Wreck-it Ralph
causes as he stomps up a building. It's reminiscent of Donkey Kong, but it's far simpler, both
in execution and difficulty, than Nintendo's arcade classic.
Using an on-screen joystick, you jump along the window ledges of an apartment block, fixing
the windows Ralph has smashed. Shutters, ducks, and the rocks that Ralph is hurling down at
you all impede your progress.
Sugar Rush Sweet Climber, meanwhile, is a Doodle Jump clone in which you bounce up candy
cane trees, tilting your iOS device to land on platforms, and collecting sweets as you
go.
There's no innovation on show here whatsoever, and nothing to set this micro-game apart from
all the other, much better Doodle Jump-esque titles that are already out there.
The final part of the Wreck-it Ralph iOS package is Hero's Duty, a top-down twin-stick shooter
in which you take on wave after wave of green glowing bird creatures.
It's probably the most entertaining of the three mini-games on offer, but it's still
lacking something to set it apart from all the other top-down twin-stick shooters on
the App Store.
As in the other two micro-games, you can challenge friends to try and beat your high score on
Facebook in Hero's Duty, but it's unlikely that they're going to respond / care.
There are power-ups to pick up that boost the power of your laser cannon, and with each
subsequent wave the enemies you're blasting become tougher. Unfortunately, the stick you
use to aim doesn't work like it should, acting more like a weird roller ball controller.
It makes for a clumsy experience, and stifles a lot of the enjoyment you should be getting
from blasting things to bits. And, in a way, it sums up the entire experience of playing
Wreck-it Ralph.
Rather than one decent game, here we have three mediocre mini ones. All of which, with
a bit more care and attention, could have become interesting diversions in their own
right.
Instead, we're left with a pack that's unlikely to hold your attention for very long.
Wreck-it Ralph wants to return you to the halcyon days of the arcade, but instead it
drags you kicking and screaming back to an era when movie games were all a bit rubbish,
and that's a massive shame.