iPhone Review: Moon Drop
by Carter Dotson
Developer/Publisher: NimbleBit
Genre: Arcade
Price: $0.99
Verdict: Another addicting winner from NimbleBit.
Pros: Surprisingly addictive, unique concept, incredibly snarky sense of humor
Cons: Definite learning curve is present, Twitter leaderboard function is imperfect
Earth. Some people are fine living on it, others can’t wait to get the hell off of our rock and on to some other rock. Moon Drop is the story of the second group of people. And they’re apparently all comedians ready to throw their endless wit at you.
This is a game that plays more exciting than it photographs.
Moon Drop’s gameplay has you trying to land a bunch of pods with potential moon columnists on the landing pad without having them land too fast by using your finger to control all the ships’ thrusters relative to where your finger is. It’s a control scheme that’s hard to explain, it takes some time to master to figure out how to keep the ships from coming in too fast, and to get them lined up with the landing pad. Mastery of the controls will be the key to racking up high scores, and given the unique control scheme, this may take a while.
Al Gore invented the moon.
Thankfully, the game is quite fun even as you struggle initially with the concept – it’s very unique, and trying to figure out how everything works is an enlightening experience. What also helps is that the game is hilarious. Every time you beat a level, one of the colonists pops up and lays down a snarky comment, some of which include references to other iPhone games, and even an Al Gore on Futurama reference. Seeing what the colonists are going to say next is a big reason to keep playing the game, as a lot of the lines are quite chuckleworthy. I was thoroughly amused just by playing this game, and have dozens of screencaps of my favorite quips after each level to prove it!
This would be a perfect screencap to use if the game stunk. But it doesn't stink.
The 2 issues I had with the game were that first, it’s very easy to fail our right away, as when the game starts to really pick up and give you a ton of colonists at once to try and land, and it’s possible to lose most if not all of your lives as you try to manage the falling waves of colonists on all sides. Mastery of this element is necessary for high scores, so it’s not really a problem as much as it’s one thing that annoyed me, as I felt I could’ve been doing so much better! To sound all intelligent, I guess I could say that the learning curve on the game gets steep fairly quickly. Second, the Twitter-powered scoreboard, while a very cool feature (and neat for spreading the word on the game), will malfunction with posting your score if you accidentally mistype your Twitter credentials. Also, for people who have yet to succumb to the Twittermania, not having an account won’t allow you to share your high scores to your friends and various spam bots following you.
Minor quibbles aside, this game is a great example of how to do a fun casual-type game on the iPhone – the gameplay is quick and repeatable, has a unique concept to it, and a great charm and personality that makes a game memorable. NimbleBit specialize in this genre of addictive pick-up-and-play titles designed to addict you, and this is another success from them. If you’re a big fan of NimbleBit games like Scoops and sky Burger, or love games with a snarky sense of humor, then Moon Drop is a must-play.
