Features

The best Android game this week - Radical Rappelling

Plus: Final Fantasy Tactics! YMBAB!

The best Android game this week - Radical Rappelling
yt
Subscribe to Pocket Gamer on

You will probably suck during your first few goes at Radical Rappelling.

The game sees you holding the screen to make your radical abseiler bounce down the side of a cliff - hopefully into coins and hoops and power-ups and away from deadly pink spike-balls.

Still, chances are you'll slam face first into a jagged rock just a few metres down. And then get engulfed by the lava avalanche that's chasing you down the mountain. And then a few more spike deaths.

But you won't toss your phone across the room, cursing the game for being unfair.

You'll want to keep playing, confident in the knowledge that after a few more goes you'll get in sync with the game's loopy rhythm. You'll get to grips with the exact timing needed to land, safely, on a tiny pebble that's floating in mid-air.

You'll grip your phone with white knuckles and unblinking eyes until you require your brain to work with the game's curious and kooky speed of gameplay. Mostly because it's a lot of fun when you get good at it - and find yourself trapped in the zone.

Radical

Like all of Halfbrick's best games - including Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride - it is very moreish. And not just because it's stuff full of upgrades and mini-missions and level ups and other such gimmicks that F2P games use to ensnare you.

But because it's truly enjoyable to play. It's satisfying, and doing a good run where you hit every bonus, cash in every coin, and pull off every trick feels you're doing some mad, choreographed dance.

I dunno. I like it. Glen did too in his Silver Award review, only needling the game for some incessant reminders that, yes, you can buy stuff with in-app purchases. We know, Halfbrick. We know.

Honourable mentions

Rob's going to be talking about You Must Build A Boat in his iOS version of this feature. It's the sequel to 1000000, and adds more of everything. More stuff, more polish, more ideas. A big, bold, monster of a follow-up.

Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions is out on Android, finally. This is a brilliant game for turn-based tactics dorks. If you like games like XCOM and Fire Emblem, you need to play this.

Fearless Fantasy is out now and that's good too. Gosh, good week for Android. We also need to put more time into Tiki Taka Soccer and Hitman Sniper. Next week, game fans. Next week.

Mark Brown
Mark Brown
Mark Brown is editor at large of Pocket Gamer