Format: iPhone/iPad
Release Date: 17th May 2012
Developer: Asketic LLC
Price: 69p (99¢)
Size: 11.9MB
If your like me then you're constantly trying to find new games to play on your iPhone. And if your a lot like me then you haven't always got the money to buy the latest big releases. If however you've got a spare bit of change in your account then I might have something you'll be interested in.
Premise & PresentationSet in one of the most corrupt post Soviet cities, some of the citizens have decided to carry out some vigilantly justice in the form of, wait for it...
Yes, smashing mailboxes with a baseball bat whilst in a moving car.
I know it sounds crazy and to be fair the premise is only a doorway to the game proper. But at least the devs here have attempted to flesh out their idea which is something you don't really find in most of these budget style apps.
The game itself is an endless run type game very similar to Temple Run but instead of running away from monkeys through an Indiana Jones inspired jungle you'll be driving around a cartoon style neighbourhood. The graphic style is purposely basic and pretty, the characters you play as have great personality and all look as distinctively as their individual bonuses suggest they should. The only real negative here is that there is no variation in the setting. It would have been great to transition into different areas as you continued. As it is you are stuck in this pretty but endless suburb.
Gameplay
As I said this is an endless run game, the viewpoint is somewhere in between third person and top down. You have to tilt your iPhone left and right to move in the specified direction which you'll need to do to avoid obstacles like passing cars, cats and old ladies. If you hit any of these things you'll instantly run out of gass which you need to keep on going. At this point you can shake your iPhone which will refill your gass tank a tiny amount and allow you to carry on until you pass over a gas refill. The problem is when you shake your iPhone you can't see what's going on so you'll probably crash again, it's hard to regain composure after you crash once so you need to avoid it for as long as possible.This game is of course called Mailboxing. That's because your objective other than getting as far as possible is hitting mail boxes with your bat. This is done by tapping the screen. You can build up combos if you don't miss any and don't crash and this is where the "one more go" factor comes in. It's massively addictive to try and beat your High score and keeps you going and going.
Final Thoughts There really isn't much to Mailboxing but what is there is a lot of fun and will definitely keep you hooked, especially if played in short bursts.
Not a must buy at the moment but if the devs continue to support this game with new content updates every so often then I might just become something that the casual gamer can't live without.
Final Rating: 7/10email: [email protected]twitter: @rubberduck
