Game Reviews

RastaMonkey

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RastaMonkey
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| RastaMonkey

Much as we subscribe thoroughly to the importance of animal welfare, it would be nice to have at least one monkey servant.

When suffering from a powerful thirst for fruit shakes, there’s all too often a disappointing lack of obliging primates willing to shimmy up trees to collect the fruit needed to make those delicious, pulpy beverages.

Come to think of it, there aren’t that many mango and passion fruit groves round our way either, but that’s hardly the point.

The elderly Rastafarian primate of RastaMonkey has no such worry. Taking control of the plucky young RastaMonkey, it’s your duty to nimbly swing through the jungle, collecting all the fruit you can so that your barely coherent monkey elder can make himself a fruit shake. Aiii!

The lay of the land dictates the simple control scheme. RastaMonkey’s bow-limbed, rigid frame can be effectively rolled along the top or underside of any of the many branches that make up the game world.

To do this you simply press on one of the four corners of the screen. Press the top right corner, for example, and RastaMonkey will swing up to the topside of a branch and roll along it from left to right.

The key challenge comes from swinging between separate branches. To do this, you place two fingers on the screen at once to swing a full circle, holding on with one hand. Removing both fingers from the touchscreen at the key moment releases RastaMonkey from his swing, propelling him in whichever direction he was facing at the point of release.

With a quota of fruit to collect and an adventuresome playground to swing through, RastaMonkey’s appeal lies in exploring the varied terrain from bendy branches to slippery slopes and winding tunnels.

You're left to discover how each new obstacle reacts to your simple set of manoeuvres and the regular spawn points parry the frequent deaths, keeping frustration at bay and experimentation firmly in the foreground.

Despite the occasional feeling of cut-and-paste level design, RastaMonkey is a beautiful title to behold. The colour palette is bright, bold and cheerful and the presentation is pitch perfect for a game of this tone.

The Rastafarian element has predictably been boiled down to the lowest common denominator and is cloying at times, but largely it works and the reggae music compliments the game wonderfully.

Ultimately, RastaMonkey is an original and fun platformer that makes good use of the touchscreen and presents itself well. In other words, it's delicious, just like a game about fruit smoothies ought to be.

RastaMonkey

RastaMonkey pulls platforming into new and interesting shapes with its oversized limbs. Fun, fresh and perfect for the iPhone
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