If you’re a fan of über colourful, simple, casual games. I think I may have found something that will tickle your fancy. Sure, okay, it may not be the newest game in the world, having existed on another platform for a while, but I’ve only just found it. I like. A lot.
The concept is nothing new. Remember the good old flash games with a helicopter that you have to fly through a cave to attack some targets? Well, take that and add a lot of colour in the magical skies of Rainbow Land, replace the helicopter for a whale named Willow, and instead of attacking something at the end, you’re flying (not swimming) from the evil Baron Von Barry.
I get distracted by all the pretty colours…. Preeeetty.
The controls are pretty simple; press the screen to make Willow climb upwards, and release to let her dive. Holding down will perform a loop the loop, which can be used to grab Blubbles and stars. Oh, and also kill clouds Thunder Bros. Yes. a whale killing clouds after eating too many magic stars.
The game has 2 game types. One is a never ending cycle of just swopping and diving. I find this incredibly addictive, it’s satisfying to keep the lovely Willow flying through the sky out of the reach of the evil baron. Across the level various coloured good guys will come along to help you acrosss spaces with no Blubbles. No Blubbes means no energy for Willow. This means death. You don’t want to kill a pretty little Whale, do you? No, good.
The second game type is a level based system, where they start really easy with just a fly up and down kind of mission, progressing to a harder level with many moving clouds. The aim here is to score over a certain number of points to unlock 3 stars. Unlocking stars will then unlock more levels, and so on. There seems to be 2 stages here.
Along the game you will gather Achievements for completing things such as the tutorial, or surviving for 4 seconds without any Blubble Energy. I like this as it drives me to try and get them all. I’m a stat whore.
I haven’t even mentionned the awesome music. Gruff Rhys (of the Super Furry Animals) composed the soundtrack. This adds another aspect of humour to the game, and gets stuck in your head pretty quick.
“I’m on the whale trail
And I won’t fail whale
Just set sail
With heavy tail to the bottom of the clouds…”
It’s pretty catchy on loop.
All in all, I’d have to say that the developers ustwo have managed to make a pretty awesome game. Now, go part with your monies.
[rating rating="5"]
[appbar id="com.jakyl.whaletrail"]
