Developer/Publisher: Funky Visions
Genre: Arcade
Price: $0.99 (Lite Version Available)
Acquired: Review Copy Provided
Verdict: A fun new concept for a casual game worthy of a look.
Pros: Concept is original and is fun to play, with an average game length to a geoSpark experience, although it’s not as demanding of perfection as that game is; Controls well; OpenFeint 2.4 support; Apparently trampolines are the next big iPhone game mechanic between Trampoline Ninja, Air Bear, and this.
Cons: No resuming from where you left off when you exit the app; graphics are fairly lo-fi

Tramp Stamp contains no lower-back tattoos on drunk women. Reconcile that Funky Visions got you yet again. At least it’s not as dirty sounding as Jiggle Balls was.

Tramp Stamp’s gameplay can be hard to decipher from the screens; basically you control a ball that bounces off a TRAMPoline, that must STAMP boxes that pass by. You tap anywhere on the upper 90% of the screen to stamp boxes that your ball is passing through, generally trying to bounce off the trampoline from as close to the center of the screen as you can, as you get less bounce when you bounce off of the edges. You can tap on or below the trampoline to charge it up, but this takes 5 points off of your energy bar at the top of the screen. You lose 3 energy points every time you let a box go unstamped, and 1 energy point every time you stamp outside of a box. You gain points and recoup energy by stamping boxes, and get bonus points by stamping overlapping boxes for double, triple, and quadruple stamps. That’s pretty much all there is to the gameplay; you’ll have to learn to time your stamps to make sure you hit them as the ball passes the box, and you’ll want to try to float around in the air for periods of time so that you can multiple stamps on boxes when you are able to.

So that’s Tramp Stamp for you. It’s not a lot like much anything else I’ve played. The game takes some time to play; I’d say a good comparison in terms of session length is geoSpark, where the game session can go on for several minutes, just as long as you can keep going. Sadly, the game doesn’t resume from where you left off if you quit, so it’s a fairly exclusive game in the sense that you can’t really be worried about multitasking. From a technical standpoint, everything is fine here; the tilt controls work well even despite a lack of calibration (which never felt like a necessity to me), the tapping in the different areas of the screen is never a problem except for maybe in the heat of the game where you may confuse a stamp tap with trampoline activation if your finger is on the lower part of the screen, but you have so much room to activate the stamp tapping that it’s kind of your own fault, really. The game also runs smoothly as of the 1.2 update, and Funky Visions have been quick to address the glitches of the game (there have been 2 updates for the game in the span of a week, as much a testament to the developer’s commitment to fixing the game as it is to Apple’s recent uptick in approval speed), so any more issues that may pop up (we hope there are none!) are likely to be fixed. It’s a great feeling. The only downsides are that the game’s graphics are fairly low quality – basic geometric shapes only, with some neon colors for the boxes. It’s not exactly a looker, but it may not really need fancy graphics either. There’s also a little Russian style music ditty that plays on repeat, but it gets fairly annoying after a while. You can play your own music, though. I recommend the new High on Fire album “Snakes for the Divine,” not just because it necessarily fits the game, but because it’s awesome.

Tramp Stamp is a fun diversion; it hooked me whenever I played it and as I started to master its mechanics (which doesn’t take long), and is interesting as it is far more forgiving than other games. OpenFeint functionality is always welcome as well. Tramp Stamp’s title and simple graphics might turn off the ‘classy’ iPhone user, but look past the exterior and you’ll find a unique casual game for the iPhone. At worst, the Lite version is worth a look.