gametaroo!

I’ve had something of a love/hate relationship with gaming on the iPod Touch. On the positive side, it has played host to some truly wonderful titles - from the bizarre One Dot Enemies to Plants Vs Zombies, Canabalt, Peggle, Flight Control, Shift and beyond - all of which genuinely earn the device its position as an important platform for gaming.  For all these successes however, prowling the App Store you can’t help but stumble upon game after game that simply doesn’t get touchscreen gaming.  

My biggest gripe is with games that attempt to shoehorn the physicality of console-based controllers onto the touchscreen, mainly through the implementation of a virtual, on-screen analogue sticks. This ‘innovation’ is one of the most horrific developments to hit gaming in sometime - they simply do not work. While it is inevitable that touchscreen gaming will require you to block the screen with your chubby fingers from time to time, this becomes a minor issue if the game is able to offer responsive, and satisfying controls that seamlessly translate your decisions into on-screen actions. Virtual analogue sticks very rarely (or, ever) feel like anything other than a compromise; an ill-conceived fudge for games that wish they were actually nestling within the frame of a console or more specialised portable gaming device. 

The reason that the aforementioned games succeed in terms of their design, is that the developers have taken the time to get to grips with the strengths - and weaknesses - of touch-screen devices.  They deliver mechanics and controls that have been honed and refined to suit their host platform, and at no point do the controls get in the way of your enjoyment of the game.  Which brings us neatly to Orange Pixel’s Meganoid - a glorious little platformer that absolutely ‘get’s it’.

 

Meganoid’s clean, retro visuals disguise a fiendishly addictive - and challenging - platformer.

Released in June 2011 for iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad and Android devices, on the surface Meganoid is a fairly bare-bones platformer with a flimsy alien-invasion back-story (albeit played out through rather cute little cutscenes).  Dig beneath the lovingly rendered retro, 8-bit visuals however, and you discover a masterclass in bite-sized, touchscreen, mobile platforming.  

Lying at the heart of its success are controls that are accessible, responsive and - most importantly - allow for a huge degree of accuracy.  With only three inputs (left, right and jump) Meganoid does not attempt to over-complicate matters but at no point does it feel unambitious; instead, it focuses on exploring the very fundamentals of platform gaming, from level design to the extremes of your ability to respond to their exacting demands.    

                                             
Controlling your little head-phone wearing character is an experience of pure, seamless engagement, and even within the simple control set up, Orange Pixel do a sterling job of drip feeding new mechanics (initially, your only skill is a double jump, later levels see you carrying crates, shooting lasers and using jetpacks) without ever diluting the experience.   Similarly pure are the levels which are the very definition of ‘bite-sized’, with most only taking between 10 or 15 seconds to complete (if you’re good enough to make it to the finish-line, that is).  Again, this demonstrates Orange Pixels understanding of mobile gaming with Meganoid managing to deliver a satisfying and well-rounded platforming experience (with beginning, middle and end) that can slot effortlessly into your day.   

Meganoid certainly isn’t for the faint hearted; it frequently trips into the ‘so-hard-its-funny’ territory previously occupied by Ghost and Goblins, Ikaruga et al.  Unfair-deaths are frequent, but are alleviated by the brevity of the levels and, with persistence, progress through the game is rewarding rather than overly frustrating.  The game’s biggest misstep is in slavishly adhering to the age old ‘3 Lives’ template, which does little more than require frequent returns to the menu screen as you restart. This could be seen as the title staying true to its old-school roots, but it remains an annoyance nonetheless.

Orange Pixel’s final success is in proving that console-style gaming can work on a touchscreen - it just requires a deftness of touch and a certain degree of restraint to avoid blindly attempting to ape the capabilities of other platforms.  Its appeal is likely to be far too niche to lead a charge against the persistent use of virtual analogue sticks, but at the very least it can proudly join the ever growing list of touch-screen games that understand exactly what a touch-screen is capable of…and how far it can be pushed.