Android Game Review: Fruit Roll

27.1.12 The Reporter 0 Comments

As they say, everyone's a kid at heart. None more so than the techies who love the games on their mobile devices. Thanks to the advent of the iPod Touch and the iPad, I find that gaming is no longer for the chosen few who are overgrown kids in adult bodies. Thanks to Steve Jobs' legacy, gaming is now pretty much a part of mobile adults' lives.

That's why every week, we here in Android Alliance Philippines will be seeking to give you fun reviews of games worth checking out, downloading and installing on your Androids.

This week, our Exhibit A will be MPC Games' Fruit Roll.

If you're an oldie in video games, I'll bet you've had a Family Computer in the 80's. And I'll bet that you had Super Mario, Contra and even Adventure Island on it. These games are what you call Platform Games.

Fruit Roll, on the other hand, is a Sidescrolling Platform Game. In non-nosebleed, non nerdy geek terms, this means that the game forces your character to move through the game sceneries, and you have to accomplish tasks or gather weapons, upgrades and coins as you move through the scenes.

Fruit Roll, Zombie Dash and Robot Unicorn Attack are all Sidescrolling Platform Games. All will require you to gather coins and get weapons and upgrades as you dash through the games' scenes. Though there are differences, the concept is the same.

I personally find Fruit Roll the most pleasant of the three. While Robot Unicorn Attack is possibly the most addictive and compelling because of the soundtrack and the whole atmosphere of the game, Fruit Roll will appeal to the child in you because it's so... Bouncy. And squishy. If there were fluff in this, this'd definitely be FLUFFY. But I digress.


Character:

You will play a run-of-the-mill unidentified yellow fruit. You will be able to change in appearance as you gather other fruits. These fruits will also have particular "powers" attached with them.

Gameplay:

You will go through scenes where you will gather stars, which give you your score. Then, as mentioned, you will have to gather fruits, which will serve as your weapons. You will also have enemies to beat, by switching to particular fruits which will beat them. Thankfully, your fruit's color will correspond with the color of the enemy that you can beat with it.

Basic Functions/Powers:

Tap: A tap gives you a jump, which will enable you to reach and gather your stars/coins, as well as your fruit upgrades.

Double-Tap: Double- and Triple- taps will enable your character to jump higher, and even stay afloat. Triple taps help in gathering the end-of-game series of stars.

Weapons vs. Enemies:

Yellow Lemon: Will help you beat the crawling Yellow Worms. It will slow down your fruit, as well. (Note: The way the lemon and the worm look to me, it's more yellow-green than yellow. Just check with how it looks on your end.)

Red Star Fruit: Will let you defeat the Red Frogs. It will also cause your fruit to speed up.

Purple Grape: Defeats Purple Flying Squirrels. Makes fruit get smaller.

Brown Durian: Gets rid of the Brown Monkeys, then makes your fruit get bigger.

As I noticed, you will be able to defeat lesser enemies with the "more advanced" fruit. For example, a Red Star Fruit will kill Yellow Worms. A Brown Durian will kill Red Frogs. But this has a short shelf life, as with several brushes with Yellow Worms while wearing a Brown Durian, your fruit will still die. Best to kill the enemies with its corresponding fruit.


Upgrades:

Three same fruits in a row gathered will turn your fruit into this gigantic super badass fruit of the color you gathered. Kills everyone on your path.


Tips:

If you have a strong orientation with your handedness, whether you're a lefty or a righty, you can move the Fruit Selection Totem Pole (Controls) either left or right via the Settings menu, accessible on the main screen. I had to move mine because I kept bumping on the Home button and it keeps interrupting my game when I tap to jump.

You should also turn off resource-hog widgets like the Facebook widget, especially if you're on a run-of-the-mill midrange Droid. That way, you will be able to avoid the dreaded Android lag by focusing all the RAM and processing power you can give the game.

In the game, Stage 1 will be filled with Yellow Worms. So best to stock up on the Yellow Lemons in this stage. Stage 2 will have Red Frogs and Stage 3 will have Brown Monkeys. The following stages will be inclined, and the navigation will be faster, so if you like, you could switch to the Yellow Lemon so you could move a little slower.

Review:

If you're in for some destressing with a mindless but exciting game, this one will be great for you. Very little challenge, and the game already pushes your character through the hoops, all you need to do is to tap or double- and triple-tap to get the things you need and kill the dangling or flying enemies. That's about the effort you'll have to do for this game.

The adrenaline pumps and the challenge comes in because of the speed.

If you like panicking a little, the speed that the fruit is pushed through the stages will achieve that. If you like all the power you can gather, the three-fruit upgrade will give you that power fix you [and I, personally,] love.

In terms of game-driven pressure, there are no stages to get through and pick up where you left off. Whenever you restart, you'll always be back to square one, Tutorial and all. This is no mind-boggling game that requires strategy. This is nothing like Pumpkins vs. Monsters which will compete with your productivity. This is just a destressor. A blood-pumping destressor.

So if you're in line for a doctor's appointment, or in another state that needs you to kill a bit of time, this could be the perfect game for you.

I personally love the quirky music, and I fill my room with its comical auditory goodness. The background sceneries may change if you keep restarting the game, so for the easily-bored, this variation may be welcome.

All in all, an engrossing, zero-pressure casual game for the kid-at-heart.

Rating: 4/5


Background/Intro story HERE.