Hands on with Playman Summer Games 3 on mobile
He's back. And this time he's brought his mates
Did you buy Playman Extreme Running when it came out last year? If not, then get thee to a portal and download it as soon as possible. RealArcade's parkour platformer is simply excellent, and an original mobile game, too.
But Playman has a history stretching back way before that, taking in football, beach volleyball, winter sports, and a pair of multi-event athletics games. The latter – Playman Summer Games and Playman Summer Games 2 – were fine button-mashers indeed.
So, the revelation that Playman Summer Games 3 is coming out was pretty exciting, and a couple of days with a preview version has only heightened our anticipation. Some initial impressions follow.
First, the animation. Playman and his fellow characters are a delight to watch as they run, jump, throw and vault their way through the game. The fluid animation was one of the strongest points in Playman Extreme Running, and that's been carried through into the new game.
This shines through in the way, after you take your turn at an event, you see a replay showing what you did, but also your opponent(s); in the javelin, this means six little characters flinging their spikes, and then celebrating/looking doleful according to their achieved distance. It's captivating.
Also noticeable is the way the controls have been kept to just three keys: '4' and '6' to build up running speed, and '5' for actions. It's brutally simple, yet at the same time there's a considerable margin for error or achievement.
It looks like the game will appeal on several levels, too. Casual players should have fun playing on amateur level, or passing the handset around friends in a multiplayer tournament. But if you get into it, there's a proper challenge to be had in achieving the highest score possible, and breaking the world records.
It really is looking like a winner, even at preview stage. And we'd say the connected feature – where your top tournament score is uploaded to a server to see how you compare to other players – is icing on the cake.
Will the game live up to this promise in the final version, though? For that you'll have to click 'Track It!' to find out when our review is published.
