Game Reviews

Progress - Mashing your face into your iPad has never been this fun

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Progress - Mashing your face into your iPad has never been this fun
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| Progress to 100
I know it's been a long day, but why are you staring at the ceiling with your iPad pushed against your nose

Because I'm playing Progress, and the game just asked me to do this. It's a puzzling game of gestures that makes use of pretty much every aspect of your iPad. And it's an awful lot of fun.

Okay, but could you maybe stop doing that while we talk?

Sure. Sorry. The game is made up of 100 puzzles, each of which takes place on a single screen. You're trying to change the screen from black to white, and the only hint you get as to how to do that comes in the form of a couple of words.

Give me an example

Okay. One of the early puzzles says something like “Slide from A to B.” And to complete it you need to slide your finger from the A to the B. That's a simple example, and things get much more complex as you move through the game.

How complex?

Well, pushing your nose against the screen and staring at the ceiling is pretty tough. There are levels that require multiple taps, physically moving the iPad around, turning down the volume, and mashing the screen repeatedly.

None of that sounds all that complex

Well, no. But the complexity arises from figuring out what you have to do. Some of the text snippets are self explanatory, but others require some working out. They're never super tough, but the game is essentially a series of “aaaaaaah” moments as you figure out what to do.

And it's fun, right?

It is fun. But here's the thing. It's a single player game, but I wouldn't recommend playing it on your own. Progress is much more fun if you're in a group of people, all of them shouting out suggestions and trying to poke the screen. It's a game that gets more enjoyable the more people are yelling at you.

So one to add to your party game rotation?

I reckon so. It has a finite number of puzzles, so it's unlikely you'll go back to it time and time again, unless you're showing it to new people, but there's enough entertainment in the simple package that you're not going to feel short changed.

A recommendation for people with friends then

Yup. It's still a solid game if you're playing on your own, but get a bunch of people around you and Progress comes to life in unexpected and brilliant ways.

Progress - Mashing your face into your iPad has never been this fun

A game that bursts into life when you play it with others, Progress is a great use of almost all of the possible controls on your iPad
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Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.