6 reasons you should be playing Vulture Island right now

Vulture Island has just hit the App Store, and we would understand if the news has passed you by. After all, what's another 2D retro platformer on iOS?

But I'm going to have to stop you there. And maybe implore you to sit down and take a closer look. I'll use force if I have to. I don't want to hurt you, but this is for your own good.

We at PG are dead excited to be playing the game, you see, and we think you should be too.

Here's why.

Donut Games has got real pedigree. More specifically, the Swedish developer's last game was Traps n' Gemstones, which happened to be one of PG's favourite games of 2014.

In fact, it remains one of the best platformers on mobile. Like, ever. Which brings me neatly to my next point...

Donut's new game belongs to the same genre as its previous classic. Like Traps n' Gemstones, Vulture Island is a retro-tinged platformer with an adventurous spirit.

What set Traps n' Gemstones out from the rest of the mobile platformer crowd was its ambitious, open structure. It was no speed-run autorunner, but rather a finely honed Metroidvania with ample meat on its bones.

Vulture Island looks to carry forward that spirit of ambitious 2D platforming - though it's far from a direct follow-on.

Vulture Island is no Traps n' Gemstones 2. If Donut's last game was an ode to solitary platform-adventure games like Metroid and Castlevania, Vulture Island is a tribute to a whole different heap of 8-bit and 16-bit platformers and adventure games.

I'm detecting elements of Mario, Mother (aka EarthBound), Kirby and Alex Kidd here, but there's also a more adventurous side that calls to mind Zelda 2 and the Dizzy games.

Rather than work your way through the levels in linear fashion, you must flit back and forth, returning to use freshly discovered items in the appropriate location (or with the appropriate NPCs).

It's still an open, adventurous platformer then - but of a different sort.

We're suckers for overworld maps here on PG, and you can probably thank Super Mario Bros. 3 on the NES for that. Vulture Island lifts that map almost directly from its source. That's an insta-win in our books.

As we hinted at before, though, this map is freely accessible from the off. It's a genuine tool for flitting back and forth between the game's bite-size levels. If anything, it's a lot more functional than Nintendo's classic.

Okay, so the retro aesthetic is perhaps a little overplayed on mobile. But just look at those graphics.

The point is, Donut Games has a handle on the retro aesthetic like few other mobile developers. Yes, it's an obvious nod to Mario, Kirby and co. But it's a very skilful nod.

The headline suggest that you should be playing Vulture Island right now, and one reason for that is value for money. It's available for a launch price (no freemium shenanigans here) of £2.29. That's 40 percent off the regular price.

This is one Donut you really should get while it's hot.