Deathfall HD - shiny graphics are a selling point

Today, I'd like to talk about a game that has been out on the app store for some time - namely, Deathfall. It was released mid-January '11, however, today it received an update in the form of a HD version. Which is, in my opinion, completely valid. (Please note that the resolution doesn't carry over on screenshots, and that the graphics are far better ingame than they appear to be here.)

Rolling, rolling, rolling...

Why? Because the graphical experience is all it has going for it. Don't get me wrong - the audio is great as well, and it complements the visuals nicely. But the game just isn't fun in a gaming sort of sense. For the first 5 minutes or so, the game is oddly charming, in a "Well, this is kind of entertaining" sense. Then again, that's about how long it takes you to realize that what you've already seen is everything you'll get, gameplay-wise. Sure, it has an appeal in the form of score addiction, but even that wasn't enough to keep me playing for very long at a time. It's an arcade title at its finest.

The game is a typical falldown-style game. You tilt the level left or right, and the skull follows the tilts, falling down the level. Your task is to collect as many artifacts as possible to score points, and to add to the completionism sense, there's a reward for collecting all the artifacts in a sequence (which is about 20-30 artifacts). Wanna know what the reward is? Your skull glows orange. For roughly 5 seconds, in which you receive extra points.

At least the backgrounds are neat.

To add to that, the tilt graphics feel irritating and clunky most of the time. There's no option to increase sensitivity or invert the controls. In fact, there are no options at all, not even to turn off the audio (not that you'd want to - it's very good for a 0.99$ game).

It also has achievements.

I didn't say they were fun achievements.

My verdict? If you're really a fan of falldown arcade games, get it. The audiovisual experience makes it better than most of its peers in that category, but I wouldn't call it fun. At $0.99, nobody's going to blame you for buying it - however, there are far better games out there at the same price.

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Also, on a slightly unrelated note - if you have a suggestion for a review, or a tip, or would like your game reviewed, please feel free to email me at ikill.eu@gmail.com!