Space Hoppers Review Video

Earlier in the month, I published my review on an iOS smartphone game Space Hoppers: Bubble Beach party. I also did a video review on it, showing off some of the screenshots from the game. You can check it out below:

Recap: Emergency 4 Saga

After my first gameplay video on Emergency 4 proved surprisingly popular and I had a few requests to do more videos, I've made three!!! Thanks to everyone who commented on the videos, giving me advice and tips - I'm really enjoying the game now. Sadly, I can't get the campaign to work after the 1st mission with the mods, but oh well - the continuous gameplay is fun enough for me. Check out the videos below:

Recap: Skyrim Bow Skillz

A short post showing my bow skills in Skyrim. I've done this crypt with no misses before, but sadly not this time!

Recap: GTA IV Derpy AI

The AI in GTA IV has a bit of a reputation for having *the most realistic and intelligent* AI (The real truth may vary). As an example of this, here's some suicidally stupid Liberty City denizens!

Recap: Edinburgh's Hogmanay Emergencies

After dropping my friend off in Edinburgh, I passed through the city centre and the aftermath of Edinburgh's new year celebrations. It normally takes me weeks to get the footage to make an Emergency Services in Scotland video, but on that night, I managed it in a little over 5 minutes!!!

Recap: Bloopers

So evidently I am horribly out of sync from when I post videos to Youtube to when I post the articles here, so here's another recap load of posts!

I'll start off with my very own bloopers reel! It takes me quite a long time to make my videos, largely down to dyslexia and anxiety (more on that on a video later in the year). I thought I would make a short video with some of my outtakes from one of my recent reviews. Hope you enjoy!

Seems legit.....

You know your game is of interesting design when music volume is under graphics settings.....

Space Hoppers Review (Smartphone Game)

Publisher: Apple iTunes

Developer: EOTIS Ltd. (http://www.eotis.com)

Released: 2014

Platform: iOS

Price: Free (With ads)

          £0.69 (Ad free)

Website: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/space-hoppers/id929582857

Note: Original score has been amended in line with a new scoring system.

Summary

Space Hoppers is a great fun little game, with an excellent implementation of the Physical Group Gaming concept. If you have the resources, the multiplayer gameplay is great fun at parties or social gatherings, particularly as a way of bringing kids together in game. That said, the game is fun for all ages and me and my friends had fun playing it at Hogmanay! The singleplayer mode is somewhat let down by the lack of a progression system which impacts re-playability, and the secondary controls are not mentioned in the instructions, which may lead some to not play the game in certain situations (such as on public transport). Overall, the multiplayer is a gleaming gem of a concept, and the app is easy and great fun to use! It is also free, so it is absolutely worth a look to give a unique concept for smartphones a go!

Introduction

So this is my first ever review of a smartphone game. Smartphone games are whole different kettle of fish from the games I'm used to playing. People play smartphone games to have fun, without getting into long, complex stories that are more associated with PC and console titles.

Space Hoppers Bubble Beach Party is the first game release from EOTIS and is the vanguard of the Physical Group Gaming concept: gaming as part of a group in a physical setting on a virtual stage. It's one of the best attempts I've seen in recent years to promote positive interaction in an ever more modernised world. While the concept is probably more aimed at kids (where learning to interact is very important!), the game does provide fun for all ages and I'll talk about that later in the review.

Gameplay

On to the game itself. You control your Space Hopper by tilting your device and make it jump by.... well.... jumping! You can also make your hopper jump by pressing and holding the screen, although this wasn't mentioned in the instructions; which left me frustratedly swiping at the screen to try to get my hopper to jump, until I eventually realised you just press and hold as a secondary was of jumping!

The object of the game is to get highest score by collecting the most bubbles. You get additional points for getting a combo of bubbles in quick succession and also for doing questionable things to seagulls! There are a variety of power-ups and traps to help and hinder you along the way. The game currently features 3 game modes; Arcade, Knock-out and Catch All (no missing!) for  you to play in single and multiplayer.

Multiplayer

Multiplayer gameplay is really where Space Hoppers shines. For the first time that I've seen, this game elevates smartphone games to the level of enjoyment from similar concepts available for Wii, Xbox Kinect and PlayStation Move: titles that are already established activities at parties and other group events. As this concept advances though development of this and future apps, I'm sure we will start to see smartphones being able to be used more and more for social interaction, and not for the anti-social gaming image smartphones currently have.

But to the game itself! In the multiplayer, an iPad or Apple TV acts as the screen (host) for other iPhone and iPad devices to connect to. Each device acts as it's own controller for that player. Each player then has to collect as many bubbles as they can while trying to keep away from other players who will be trying to steal your (and everyone else's bubbles)! In arcade mode, the aim of the game is have the highest score when the timer reaches zero. Knock-out mode is round based and any players that fail to best the challenge of the round are knocked out until just one player is left. Catch-All is an interesting gamemode where the players have to act as a team to catch all the bubbles and not let any hit the floor.

While I feel that the concept and game is largely aimed it kids, the game is fun for all ages, and I broke the game out for multiplayer at Hogmanay. We had good fun bounding across the living room trying to catch the bubbles, and we're a group of graduates in our twenties! I echo what I said earlier: with more and more kids owning smartphones, this game, and indeed the Physical Group Gaming concept, is truly commendable for promoting physical activity and positive interactions in a time where kids are seen to becoming increasing anti-social. The ease of use and solid controls have set a good benchmark for the games to come!

Singleplayer 

The singleplayer gameplay is, however, definitely secondary to the multiplayer mode. While singleplayer has exactly the same game modes available as multiplayer, I worry that the lack of any kind of progression system hampers the re-playability of the game: power-ups are present in the game, but the game lacks a system of unlocking or upgrading them, as you would find in some other smartphone titles. This would have been a good way to encourage use of the singleplayer mode, which I feel is left lacking. The same level (the beach party) time after time would also get repetitive, particularly discouraging for younger audiences. Although the game does advertise a the customisation of your Space Hoppers and the backdrop, but I wasn't able to find any options to initiate this within the game.

The other issue I have with the singleplayer mode is the sociability of the controls, particularly as the secondary controls are not mentioned in the instructions, which I mentioned earlier. Bouncing about the place is all fine and good in your own living room, but I imagine it would raise many blood pressures on, say, the bus or the train. I feel that by missing out on those instructions, some people may avoid using the singleplayer mode in public. Also, while there is a secondary control for jumping, there are no secondary controls for moving side to side: you must physically tilt the device. While I'm aware that once of the ideas of the game is to promote physical activity in a game setting, the I feel the lack of full touchscreen controls may limit people playing the game in busy surroundings, which isn't ideal.

Criticisms

I do have one major issue with the app, and that is the amount of equipment needed to make the multiplayer work. We had to do some serious resource pooling to make the multiplayer work, as only a few of us had iPads or iPhones and only one with an iPad new enough to act as host for the multiplayer. iPhones and iPads are very expensive pieces of kits, and not everyone has them. This could limit the audience of the game.

Having said that, I do immediately come to the aid of the developers: as a computer programmer myself, there is an obvious appeal in working with in an infrastructure where all the hardware and operating systems are built by one producer with little variation. But with only around 25% of the UK market share, making a device for iOS only does limit the audience. The logical, but not trivial progression would be being able to make the app for Andriod and Windows Mobile operating systems AND being able to make them talk to each other so that everyone could play together regardless of the device. Additionally, the app only supports "beaming" to Apple TV's (for those who would rather use a proper screen). Beaming to all enabled TV's would be a great feature, but I do not know if iOS products allow that as Andrioid does.

Having never programmed for smartphone devices, I do not know the feasibility of any of this and as big a bugbear as it is, I do struggle to fault the developers for it - particularly since it is a great concept and a great game, with good implementation.

Summary (Again)

Space Hoppers is a great fun little game, with an excellent implementation of the Physical Group Gaming concept. If you have the resources, the multiplayer gameplay is great fun at parties or social gatherings, particularly as a way of bringing kids together in activity. However, the game is fun for all ages and my friends and I had fun playing it at Hogmanay! The singleplayer mode is somewhat let down by the lack of a progression system which impacts re-playability, and the secondary controls are not mentioned in the instructions, which may lead some to not play the game in certain situations (such as on public transport). Overall the multiplayer is gleaming gem of a concept, and the app is easy and great fun to use! It is also free, so it is absolutely worth a look to give a unique concept for smartphones a go!

I hope you've enjoyed reading my first ever review on a smartphone game, don't forget to check it out on the iTunes store - you can also follow the links at the top of this page!

Thanks for reading,

Hibblejaybob

Happy New Year!

To everyone, a happy new year! 2014 was a year of many ups and downs: I graduated from university and I was also ill alot! I finally got some time to take my game reviewing a bit more seriously, and while I'm still finding my feet, I have a much better idea of what is popular here and on my Youtube channel, and what still needs work. But with 50+ subscribers and 25,000+ views this year, things are going pretty well!

So what can you look forward to in 2015? Well, I make no secret of the fact I've been very busy with work and I've also been out of action for illness quite a bit as well, so I've not had nearly as much time to do reviews and videos as I would like. Things should hopefully be looking up for 2015 though, and with more free time I should be able to get much more review and gameplay videos than ever before!

What's in the pipeline right now? I have reviews on a mobile game, Space Hoppers, and on the Deus Ex series that should be published before the end of January, as well as the occasional emergency videos as and when I get the footage for them.

Hopefully, that will keep people interested, and I'm looking forward to seeing how 2015 goes. If you have any feedback or suggestions, you can leave comments here or on the Youtube channel, and if you haven't already, don't forget to like and subscribe to my channel.

Let 2015 treat you well!
Hibblejaybob