Game Reviews

Whac-a-Mole

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| Whac-a-Mole (mobile)
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Whac-a-Mole
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| Whac-a-Mole (mobile)

I like to imagine that in 1971 there might have been a media storm brewing in the tabloids concerning a sick and twisted kids' game that was about to hit the bowling alleys and malls of western suburbia. The goal of this game was to bludgeon blind mammals as they stuck their heads out of their burrows. Its name was Whac-a-Mole.

"What next?" the rags would ask, scarcely able to type for all the hand wringing, "Kick-a-Vole? Molest-a-Marmot?"

Of course, the media was rather less sensationalist in those days (so I'm told) and Whac-a-Mole became a much-loved institution in amusement arcades across the world. You have to wonder, though, whether it makes the most suitable material for a modern mobile game.

Okay, so the mobile keypad is perfectly suited to the reaction-based gameplay. Kiloo's take on the classic game maps the traditional five holes to '1', '3', '4', '5' and '6'. When a furry critter appears, whack away.

But what the game lacks, of course, is the tactile joy of wielding a mallet and bringing it crashing down onto talpidae bonces. Kiloo realises this, and it realises that the game is far too simplistic without this element, so it sets out to add a few additional features.

Firstly, there are occasional power-ups to obtain. There's extra time, a swift-moving baseball bat and a super-potent Power Mallet to pick up - though it's not as simple as merely whacking them when they appear.

Go for a power up and the standard mole-abusing gameplay gets put on hold while you're shunted through to a mini-game section. These are extremely brief, simple affairs that make use of a single button. One sees you switching lanes on a busy road to avoid traffic, while another requires you to stop a moving gauge right in the middle.

These games are nicely presented in a retro style, as if they were being played on the digital score-display of the classic machine. However, they're extremely simplistic and fail to add any great depth to proceedings.

Nor, really, does the variety of modes on offer. Normal Mode is Whac-a-Mole by numbers, Cork Mode places the emphasis on the mini-games in order to block up each hole, Follow the Leader is a fairly dull memory test and Master Mind is a poorly explained test of observation.

Whac-a-Mole is as comprehensive a take on the arcade classic as you could imagine. The trouble is, the central concept is unable to sustain a stand-alone video game, and no amount of additional gimmicks can hide that.

Whac-a-Mole

While there's nothing particularly wrong with the execution of Whac-a-Mole, the core mammal-bashing concept just doesn't make for a particularly stimulating mobile game
Score
Jon Mundy
Jon Mundy
Jon is a consummate expert in adventure, action, and sports games. Which is just as well, as in real life he's timid, lazy, and unfit. It's amazing how these things even themselves out.