Game Reviews

Pocket God

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Pocket God
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| Pocket God

Pocket God isn't like most god sims, but you should know that already.

Bolt Creative's idol simulator has had a firm grasp on mobiles since its iOS debut in 2009, and its influence has spread to Android and Windows Phone 7.

Lending its unholy powers to AMA, Pocket God has finally been ported to Java mobiles bringing with it the masochistic pleasures that made it a quirky hit.

Mercy me

You're given a clean slate: a sun-drenched island all to yourself and a lone Pygmy wandering its shores. This peaceful set-piece soon becomes a testing ground for your godly powers that unlock with every evil deed.

It starts by drowning your first pygmy follower in the sea, then another, then another, and before long you'll be flinging, zapping, and dropping everything from coconuts to sharks onto their heads.

With an endless supply of pygmy test subjects just a button click away, you can't help but feel compelled to unleash your wrath - something the hints provided by a nearby signpost encourages.

It's not difficult to blitz through the game's bite-sized challenges, unlocking new abilities but discovering alternate paths through these challenges using creative thinking is a nice addition.

There are also mini-game events to discover, one of which sees you actually helping the pygmies in a quick-time event battle to take down a T-Rex.

Sin & punishment

The problem is that it's all too repetitive. With every new power you're pushed to use it multiple times in order to progress, and massacring countless islanders quickly loses its appeal.

It's no surprise that the Java version would be a noticeable downgrade compared to its appearance on other more powerful hardware. However good the conversion in, traditional button prompts are a far less enjoyable way to interact with your pygmies than touchscreen controls.

Pocket God

Just as evil but much less addictive, Pocket God isn't likely to gain many converts this time
Score
Tom Worthington
Tom Worthington
Fresh out of the packaging, Tom joins Pocket Gamer with a chip on his shoulder and a degree in Journalism. Naively, Tom believes there's a star-studded career in video games and has penned words across the internet in between praying to the almighty Nintendo gods.