Squids Review

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Squids Review

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Squids Review

By Rob LeFebvre on October 11th, 2011
Our Rating:

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad

Fling Steev, WInnik, Vahine, Clint and Sammo into an adventure to save the underwater world from corruption.

Developer: The Game Bakers
Price: $0.99
Version: 1.1
App Reviewed on: iPhone 4

Graphics / Sound Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
User Interface Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Gameplay Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Re-use / Replay Value Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Overall Rating: 4.13 out of 5 stars

Squids is a fantastic game with a quality of visual presentation and level design that goes beyond the typical App Store entry, especially at the current price point. The Game Bakers, a new studio out of France, have made a high quality iOS game on their first outing to iOS, which isn’t a surprise considering the two person team comes from larger, AAA console gaming teams in the past.

Squids focuses on a team of, you guessed it, squids, all ready to save the oceans from the ooze that is infecting it and its creatures with pollution and evil intent. Each level brings with it bright, vibrant stills with text dialogue from the squids, explaining the narrative. Once full exposition occurs, the player gets control, pulling on the squids’ arms and flinging them like a cephalopod slingshot, which, incidentally, is what I will now be naming my next band. Each individual squid has their own set of movement, armor, and strength attributes, which can be upgraded over time with XP in the form of pearls. Armor enhancing hats can be found throughout each level, as well as a hidden star to boost up those points.

The levels are all interesting on both a visual and a mechanical level, offering players plenty of ways to strategize a win. Some levels are about exploration, finding hidden treasure and secret passage ways, while others are all about combat, using the strengths of each squid on the team to the best advantage.

Squids is a game worth playing, and The Game Bakers is a studio worth watching. My initial playtime reaction was something along the lines of, “oh, wow, this looks like a DS game; my kids are going to love it.” Of course, they do, and so do I. The characters are cute and well designed, the levels are challenging yet not brutal, the music is bright and lively, and flinging the squids around the screen is a ton of fun. And we can all use a bit more of that, right?