Game Reviews

Granny Smith

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| Granny Smith
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Granny Smith
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| Granny Smith

Remember when video game characters were cool? If those streetwise hedgehogs and hip hop aliens were starting out today they'd be wearing skintight trousers, oversized glasses, and ironic hats.

Thank goodness for Granny Smith, then. Forgoing any notion of being hip or aspirational, the game gives you control of that ultimate of social pariahs - an old person.

Admittedly, this OAP can rollerskate, land 720 flips, and pitch a baseball like a pro. But still.

Comes to the crunch

It's a fairly straightforward premise. A scoundrel on a pair of rollerskates is stealing apples from Granny Smith's garden. You, playing as Granny Smith, chase him.

In order to snatch back the apples you have to race against said scoundrel through a succession of undulating levels, maximising your skate speed, collecting apples, and doing everything necessary to reach the finishing line first.

There are just two core (pun intended) controls in Granny Smith - one button to jump and another to hook onto overhead lines.

Hold onto the 'jump' button and you rotate forwards, which is vital for aligning yourself properly for your landing. Hit the ground dead-on and you'll score a perfect landing, increasing the speed at which you travel.

Juiced up

These simple ingredients amount to a truly delicious - if unassuming - iOS game. The multiple objectives, the simple satisfaction of landing the perfect jump, and the varied obstacles you face makes for a compelling mix.

As you move into the second of three worlds, things really begin to hot up. The difficulty ramps up considerably, with newly twisting and branching courses, awkward hops through tight spaces, and new game elements.

You'll find that you can pick up and lob baseballs - useful for clearing obstructions or slowing down your rival. There are also single-use objects you can purchase with the coins you collect, and new unlockable characters to play.

Granny Smith is exactly what you'd expect a game of this title to be - crisp, sweet, wholesome, and nicely self-contained.

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Granny Smith

Granny Smith is a suitably sweet and satisfying casual game with a moreish mechanic at its core
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.