Rocket Monkey, an action game from people operating technology, has been released in the app store. Based on the popular PC flash game Fly The Helicopter, Rocket Monkey adds some polish and minor twists that freshen up this classic game.
The goal of Rocket Monkey couldn’t be simpler: fly as far through the asteroid field as possible without touching anything. There is an asteroid belt above and below your fly space, and the occasional large asteroid comes spinning through your fly zone. You are a monkey with a rocket strapped to your back. Touch the screen to go up, and release your finger to drop down. Avoid all obstacles at all costs. The moment you touch something, the game is over and your distance travelled becomes your score. It couldn’t be simpler. The entire game becomes a delicate dance of screen taps, as you try to either maintain a constant height or climb and dip to avoid the large asteroids.
The original Fly The Helicopter game employed blocky graphics and stationary, blocky obstacles. Rocket Monkey utilizes smoother graphics with asteroids that both spin and slowly move up or down, requiring you to anticipate and correct for the movement of the obstacles. Also, unlike the helicopter game, which used the exact same size and positioning of obstacles in each game, Rocket Monkey’s asteroids are dynamic. No two games play the same, as you find a good mixture of large and small asteroids that are never in the same order, nor moving in quite the same way as they did in previous games. As you progress through the game, the difficulty ramps up a bit, with things moving a bit faster and the top/bottom asteroid belts getting closer together, leaving little to no room for error.
The improved graphics work well with the backing soundtrack, which sort of captures the outer space vibe without being annoying. As the game is all about controlling the monkey’s height, the controls are the most important aspect of the game. Fortunately, they are extremely well done. This is where similar games in the app store have completely failed. Rocket Monkey’s controls are not touchy like those other games. They actually feel fairly intuitive and the movements are smooth as can be. If you are interested in games of this ilk, Rocket Monkey is the best we’ve come across so far.
Rocket Monkey utilizes OpenFeint to track leaderboards and achievements. The ability to compare your scores with those of other players gives this game its replay value and opens up new avenues of competition. Unfortunately, the OpenFeint system gets a little overzealous and informs you immediately of any achievements you may have earned with a small pop-up window at your screen bottom, which is extremely distracting during gameplay and has led to a couple of monkey collisions at inopportune times. Occasional framerate skips was our only other negative. Rocket Monkey is a solid, fun, and addictive game, worthy of a 5-Dimple rating and a bargain at $0.99.
Rocket Monkey gets our AppSmile 5-Dimple rating:
