Shaky Summit

iTunes Link

Shaky Summit is a strategy game by IUGO Entertainment. $1.99

This game is an interesting one. I found it fun and very challenging but it was also often confusing and hard to play. There actually isn't much to do in the game sadly, basically two buttons are needed to play the game. For $1.99 it is graphically and visually passable and the game is fine but I found that it doesn't do a good job to engage me to be honest. The tutorial confused me even more and I would recommend just getting straight into the game. Basically all you need to do is watch the screen and hold down on the screen to set an earthquake on both players, hopefully putting an obstacle on your opponents head. There are four characters available to attempt to climb the summit with, one is locked at the start though. Each one of them has their own attributes to consider. There are three difficulty levels for the 10 levels and the objective is to get a gold medal on each. It all sounds very easy but it quite difficult to actually win the game as the computer will also send earthquakes back that sometimes prove to be the final hit that let them win.

This game has a nice feel in the graphics department, with its cartoony graphics and great camera angle. Most of the detail in the game has been put into the beautiful background that really looks like it is 3D. The changing of camera angles inside caves is a nice touch and gives a different view of the game. I am actually a bit disappointed with how the actual characters look, thinking that at least the thin guy could be more defined in his shape. As said above there isn't much in the way of controls. Supposedly you can tilt the iDevice to decide dodge rocks and such, but I found it happened automatically and didn't bother. To start earthquakes that trigger other disasters such as rolling boulders, slippery ice patches, cave floods and volcanic fire storms you just touch and hold anywhere on the screen until you wish to stop the earthquake. If your timing is right any obstacle may crush your opponent but they may also crush you. There is a boost on the left of the screen that can be used to speed up. I found this quite useless in trying to catch up and wasn't very effective unless you wanted to earn more points while in the lead.

The sound in this game has some nice sound effects and in-game music. There is a nice adventure tune playing in the background as well as various boulder smashing, volcano erupting sound effects. For those who do not like what is playing you can jam to your own tracks, but I am quite happy to listen to the music provided.

The actual game itself is a bit of a challenge. The one player mode is a race to the top of the mountain overcoming various obstacles. You are points on how efficiently you use the earthquakes and how much you are winning by at certain stages of the game. There are checkpoints on the courses and the further in front you are, the more points you get. These points are vital when going for even the bronze medal on courses. One of the good things about each level is that every time you play it the layout is randomly generated so even the worst person at the game can enjoy a bit of variety. The three difficulty levels don't give any more levels, just harder or more intelligent opponents on the levels. The 3rd of these difficulty levels is unlocked to begin with. There is a two player mode which works the same way as one player except you play your friend on the same iDevice. This is alot of fun and can often become chaos if you are trying to send off earthquakes at the same time. This one area of the game is where I feel not having many controls works quite effectively.

Overall this game was not the amazing thrill ride that I was expecting when I first saw it. More of a strategy game that turns into a hectic brawl when you decide to play against friends. The game takes a while to master and even longer to get gold on every course on each level, so it provides quite a bit of replayability. There is no point playing the one player mode after the game has been completed though. While I would like to see some more interaction in the one player mode, such as shaking to knock things around or other methods. Overall it is a fun little game to play around with, but don't expect it to satisfy all your entertainment needs.

Gameplay- 6.5/10
Graphics- 8/10
Sound- 8.5/10
Overall- 7.5/10

I would recommend this game if you enjoyed- Zombie Attack ?

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