Preview: ABOVE
by Jamin Smith on Wednesday 17th Mar 2010

Since Axolot revealed their artistic take on interactive ascension, I’ve been unable to get ABOVE out of my head. Combining the aesthetics of a Studio Ghibli production with simple one-button gameplay, I foresaw a bright future for the game. Since then, Axolot Games have been kind enough to supply AppGamer with an early build of the game, allowing me some hands on time with what I predicted would be one of 2010s most interesting iPhone titles. 

After a good few hours with the game, do I still think as fondly of ABOVE? In short, yes. The game is instantly playable and addictive as hell. While the build I played was far from finished, the one-button gameplay held up well, and the few bugs I experienced will be long gone before the release of the game. Although the controls take a little while to adapt to, ABOVE has that simple and yet absorbing quality that has made Flight Control and Doodle Jump so successful before it.

The premise is simple. A nameless chap with the briefcase runs continuously from one side of the screen to the other, and will continue to do so until you intervene. By tapping the screen, he’ll jump, and the longer you leave your finger on the screen for, the higher it’ll be. With this mastered (which takes a surprising amount of time for such a simple concept) the game becomes reliant on good ol’ fashioned timing. Only by tapping the screen at the right time will your character reach the lofty heights of high score heaven. 

Inexplicable floating platforms make this ascending process possible. Green is the colour of your run-of-the mill platform, with no discerning attributes to its name. Land on a gold platform however, and it will propel you upwards with a dramatically increased velocity. Then there are the dreaded grey platforms, which will fall from the sky shortly after you land on them. Learning how to time your jumps to use these platforms effectively is the key to success. 

Graphically the game is impressive, making use of simplistic and yet incredibly endearing artwork that manages to give the game its unique style. Three different locations make up the three different difficulty settings the game has on offer, although I only had access to the easy and difficult levels. I spent the majority of my time with the game on easy, getting better and better scores the more I played. The scope for replay value is great, made all the more addictive through impressive Twitter and Facebook integration. 

I stand by my initial comments about the game. ABOVE is exactly the kind of game the App Store was designed for. Simple and yet innovative; a game based around one mechanic that still manages to offer copious amounts of replayability. The game has all the ingredients of an App Store hit, but its fate will ultimately be decided by the fickle tastes of the App Store’s audience. 

Page 1 of 1

---

1 comment

---

---

---

---