We at World of Meh occasionally receive review codes for iPhone games. Our most recent batch included Pocket Devil – Hell Yeah!, Rodger the Racoon, and Pinch. As a heads up, one of these is a complete waste of time (to me), one is somewhat entertaining, at least for a little while, and one is genuinely fun. I’ll leave it to you to figure out which one is which based on the reviews below. It shouldn’t be too difficult, but just in case, at the very end of the article I’ll post a cheat sheet giving you the answer.
Pocket Devil – Hell Yeah! – $0.99
Pocket Devil – Hell Yeah! comes to us from EyeDip, who we’ve mentioned before on World of Meh. I’m a big fan of Flight Doodle, which makes the shockingly terrible Pocket Devil – Hell Yeah! even more of a disappointment. The entire point of the game, it seems, is to destroy little devils using a stock of items and the environment. This would be fun(ish) if there was any kind of level progression. The entire game, as far as I could tell, took place on a single background, and was limited to the space you saw on the screen. I really dislike this game, which as I said, is very sad, because I loved EyeDip’s Flight Doodle. If you want something to pick up and play around with when you only have a free minute or two, and you don’t mind pointless (and slightly repetitive killing), then perhaps you’ll enjoy this more than I did. The game looks good, and everything functions well, but I don’t see this as a worthwhile application for my own personal use (sincere apologies to the developer).
Rodger the Racoon – $0.99
To be honest, I outgrew soundboard applications almost a decade ago. I went in to Rodger the Racoon with extremely low expectations, assuming it would be the same as every other soundboard application. Flaming Mitten Studios, however, has made this soundboard application just different enough to give me a few laughs. Rodger is extremely foul-mouthed, which is entertaining. His voice can be very annoying at times (apologies to the voice actor), but it is highly satisfying when I want to get Lindsey’s attention and Rodger yells out [Expletive Deleted!] (apologies to my wife). The visual of Rodger is very well done, the background looks very nice, and make sure to tap the little blue bird that flies by every now and then for a couple of extra choice comments.
Pinch – $1.99
I have a feeling that Pinch will stay on my iPhone for a long time. Coatsink Software’s Pinch is a great little puzzle game. The point of this puzzle game in particular is to get small colored discs (called Norbs) through a flat, obstacle-filled level and into the finish zone. Pinch makes great use of the iPhone’s multi-touch capabilities as a core gameplay mechanic, used for separating and merging multiple Norbs into smaller or larger Norbs. This is necessary for bypassing many of the obstacles you will find as you progress through the game. Pinch is a very well designed game with an escalating difficulty that lets you develop your pinching skills smoothly throughout the game. Color and quantity both play important parts in Pinch, giving it an extra dimension of strategy that really makes this game stand out to me.
Cheat Sheet:
Waste of time (to me): Pocket Devil – Hell Yeah!
Somewhat entertaining: Rodger the Racoon
Genuine fun: Pinch
-[insert [EXPLETIVE DELETED!] here]
