Google Earth meets “Whack-A-Mole” on steroids

Platform: iPhone, iPod Touch

Price: $3.99 .99cents, Available Now

Among it’s achievements and disappointments, the App Store for the iPhone & iPod Touch has made the process of game development approachable and affordable for nearly anyone who wants to dip their feet into a potential audience of, what, 40 million people?

Of course we have the giants like Sega, EA, and PopCap rushing into the limelight, but thankfully we also have independents like the two-man Pattern Making Co, who released “Radius” two weeks ago with exactly zero promotion.

On a whim, I decided to plunk down my $3.99US and give it a spin (oooh, the puns, they burn!).

Michael Tseng, the lead designer of Radius, was inspired to create the game after repeatedly seeing folks interact with Google Earth. “They just kept spinning that damn sphere,” he remarked in our interview (coming soon). And so, in it’s most distilled form, Radius could be described as “Simon” meets Google Earth.

Like most classic arcade games, Radius has a simple, singular goal: in this case, find the enemies constantly spawning (in ever-multiplying waves) on your little black sphere, and tap them into oblivion.

Let’s clear up one thing before continuing: The enemies aren’t just bad, they’re tenacious. You might assume this is a casual game, but it’s the exact opposite. A two-second distraction could spell “Game Over” and you’re well advised to stay caffeinated and keep your eyes peeled to that shiny black sphere, because these enemies get increasingly aggressive, and in order to survive longer than three minutes, your fingers will need to be a blur as they tap-attack your screen.

Your life is represented by a pulsing white outline around your globe. Wait too long to zap an enemy, and it gets partially depleted, accompanied by a jarring klaxon sound effect and vibration that should serve as reinforcement to avoid this action at all costs! This is easier said than done, however.

The initial few waves of enemies are brief, and then the flood starts, and you’re gradually introduced to various personality types. Some enemies, represented by simple “+” signs, shrink in size and you must tap them before they disappear. Others are more unique, such as the blue baddies that draw a line across your entire sphere, connected at linking points. You’ll have to destroy all those linking points to fully kill that particular breed. Others cause a blinding whiteness to slowly envelop your sphere, and if not taken out in time, it’s essentially game over as your remaining enemies become invisible to you.

To make the constant onslaught more manageable, an assortment of powerups will occasionally appear to enable score multipliers, slow down time, and nuke whatever enemies are alive. Greedy bastards that we are, we’d love to see a few more powerups sneak into a future update of the game.

Addiction Level: It’s all about coming back again and again to best your high score, to push back one more wave of enemies, and to see how long you can survive. Radius is one of those “short attention span” games. If you have 5 minutes to kill, it’s the perfect antidote to your boredom. In fact, the current world record holder achieved his 100,000+ score in a mere 6 minutes.

Graphics: As with most games, screenshots can be an injustice. Overall the game has a clean and sleek design and although simple in nature, the graphics easily rival that of other high profile titles.

The Audio: This is our only complaint. Ambient sounds and responsive in-game audio effects are here, but the volume could be a bit louder, and a full soundtrack (maybe in the vein of PixelJunk Eden) would really compliment the overall experience. Fortunately, Pattern Making Co is already addressing this and have hired a composer to do just that.

Buy It or Forget It: Before we offer the final word on whether this title deserves your $4.00, consider this: It’s roughly the same cost as a movie rental, and cheaper than a matinee. If you enjoy simple yet challenging puzzle/action games, you’ll easily waste more time on Radius than you would a movie. It’s also worth noting that since the game is under the loving care of a small and passionate development team, they’re listening to what the community wants: Features like online leader boards, improved controls, and a full musical score to name a few.

We say, definitely buy it.

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There are some minor bugs to be squashed still, but the developer has already uploaded a patched version to iTunes which is awaiting approval.

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RANDOM NOTES:

• Check out our interview with the Radius developers, coming later this week!
• For best results, play on a flat service using one hand to spin and stop the sphere, and the other hand to tap attack those enemies. We don’t recommend the TouchArcade method.
• Don’t tap powerups until a new wave of enemies spawn; this will maximize their use.
• Check out the Radius Home Page
• Radius: Direct App Store Link

Did you purchase this game? Tell us what you think in the comments!