Developer/Publisher: Brainjuice Games
Genre: Air Hockey
Price: Free, with $0.99 In-App Purchase to remove ads and unlock customization options
Acquired: Review Copy Provided
Verdict: Much improved over the initial release, and worth playing, though previous owners of the game may not appreciate the new freemium model.
Pros: Everything that was great in the initial release still works here; the controls are improved; the smaller paddle and puck make the game play a lot better than it did; free entry price is hard to complain about for new owners…
Cons: …but old owners may be understandably miffed about having paid for a game that is not only now free, but requires you to pay to unlock settings and to get rid of ads now in the game; those anthropomorphic thumbs are still kinda creepy

As a reviewer, it’s not that hard to review a game that is ultimately good or bad – when a game has an unequivocal value of quality to it, expressing it is not a great challenge. The challenging situation for a reviewer is when a game lies in that strange limbo of being not quite good, but with flaws that upon fixing, can dramatically improve a game. Arcade Hockey is one of those games. In its initial release, the game had flaws that I felt needed to be addressed in order to make a promising game play much more like it should have. As such, one needs to tiptoe the line between praising a flawed game too much, or slamming a game too much despite it having some value and the ability to redeem those flaws. For games with retail box releases, redeeming those flaws can be tricky if not impossible. But on the iPhone and its App Store, with the updating process, it is possible for a game to correct the core flaws that plagued it initially. Arcade Hockey has seen a renaissance in quality, by simply addressing the issues that plagued it initially. However, with the game’s revamped gameplay comes a new distribution model, that opens up an interesting new can of worms for people who have already purchased the game.

The core of the game is largely unchanged – it’s air hockey. What is different is the how the game’s mechanics and objects work. The speed feels far more manageable than it did before. This may be because the paddles and the puck are much smaller, and there is actually room for them to maneuver now. This makes a drastic difference in the gameplay, as it now feels much more like how air hockey actually plays. Also, the control issue of being able to snap to a different position on the board by putting a second finger on your side of the board in a different position It’s a dramatic improvement, exactly how I expected it to affect the game if the changes were made. Not only am I glad to see that I am right, but I am glad to see a game with promise finally achieve something closer to its original level of promise. The game’s also added OpenFeint for leaderboards, and achievements, like the Chuck Norris achievement for being awesome, as seen at right.

Should you buy it? Well, that’s the interesting question now. With this landmark update, the game has also changed business models – from being a traditional paid app, the game now has gone the freemium model of being free to download but offering premium content, not unlike Gravity Sling. Initially, you have no options to customize your gameplay experience – you can play singleplayer or multiplayer in a best of 5 game or in a 2-minute timed game. For other options, you must pay $0.99 to unlock them. The problem is that if you owned the app previously, then due to App Store policies, you have to purchase the update now. This is a thorny issue – Brainjuice have outlined their reasons for doing this here, and while it is controversial for previous owners, their options given this path are limited. Stay tuned to The Portable Podcast, as we will speak with Benjamin Jackson of Brainjuice about this decision and the App Store on a future episode. It’s interesting, and there’s not really a right way to do things given the current App Store system in play.

As it is now, the game is worth checking out as a free download, as it is far improved from its original release, and if you need more customization, then you can get it for a nominal fee, although previous owners of the game may feel slightly ripped off at having to pay for customization options when they already paid for the game.