[Review] Lions Pride HUGE

Developed by: Blue Fang Games

Players: 1

Platforms: Apple iPad (Requires iOS 3.2 or later)

Rated: 9+ (Frequent/Intense Cartoon or Fantasy Violence)

As the player you control the females (and sometimes the lazy male) of a lion pride as they stock and kill prey to feed the pride. It's simple, it's fun, it's easy to play, and hard to master. At a price of $4.99 from the iTunes App store some players may feel it's a bit steep of a price since the average App runs around $0.99 -$2.99. Well this is far from an average App.

It's difficult me for to review or recommend games for mobile platforms such as smart phones and tablets. Most of these "games" can be classified under time wasters. Not much depth, story, poor controls, repetitive action, or a simple virtual touch joystick placed in the corner to represent an 80's arcade cabinet. Blue Fang did a fantastic job developing Lion Pride HUGE for the iPad. It feels like before the development of the game they sat down with an iPad and figured how to make it's game control work with iPads touch screen. Your finger is the control and it's one of the better uses of this interface and at no point will you find yourself missing a target or looking for a button/controller that your hand is blocking.

The controls are simple .. tap lioness, draw a slow stroke line slowly to stalk unsuspecting prey, draw a quick stroke line to make the lioness run, double tap to stun prey, lather--rise--repeat. It's simple, intuitive, and easy. You instantly understand how to play so the learning curve is pretty low making this game easily accessible to everyone.

Music gets a little repetitive, but that's okay. It's catchy, light hearted and enjoyable to listen too The sound effects more than make up for it. The cartoon sounds of the lioness, boars, zebras, and other animals more than make it for it. You'll need to listen to these sounds closely unless you goal is to allow Hyena's to carry off your cubs. If you grow tired of the soundtrack you can aways just turn on the iPod function and listen to your own music along with the sound effects of the game. Just make sure you do it BEFORE starting your game. Being able to create your own sound track is a feature lacking in many games right now and it's a pleasant surprise to find games that allow you do this. Also the game is simple enough that you could listen to audio books or podcasts while you play.

Level design is simple .. you're in Africa .. it's big, it's flat, it's empty. Plenty of room to move and set up ambushes using multiple lioness. This also allows the prey to escape easily if your are not paying enough attention. You can easily play the game in a frenzied button mashing/finger swiping way, but if you want a decent score .. well then you're going to have to use your brain a little harder. Strategy is key to achieving a higher score. You'll find yourself coming back to early levels and playing them multiple times trying to increase your high score. This is far from frustrating, because Blue Fang was kind enough to offer a well written tutorial section and they also provide hints for each level. Love or hate Apple products the iPad is a strong and well built device and during some of the more frenzied killing sprees you'll never find your self thinking .. "Oh My GOD!! I'm going to break my iPad". So that's another plus to playing this game on the iPad.

OpenFeint allows you to post your score, access to forums and chats, invite friends and see leader boards. It's a nice feature, but not one that effects game play. Something I liked a lot was not actually part of the game itself. There's a selection called "Fun Facts" that provide interesting facts of the animals in game. .. it's just .. well .. fun to read! The art style of the game if well done. It's fun, bright, has great character and menu designs, and it's easy to navigate.

To sum up Lion Pride HUGE can be done in a single sentence. "Fun and easy to play, difficult to master." The game is simple but far from boring and you'll likely find yourself thinking why you are up past midnight playing this in bed when you have a 9am meeting tomorrow. Okay just one more level, then I'm done. I really like this game .. it's fun .. it's cheap .. it works (I didn't come across any bugs), it's a great addition to anyones iPad App Library for kids in the car or waiting at the airport for your plane to arrive. Plus the guys at Blue Fang are great people. They love what they do and they appreciate their fans.

What else can I say . .. if you have an iPad pick this game up. If not, and are planning on purchasing a different tablet, keep an eye out for this game to show up. You'll be pleased you did.

Written by: Kevin English (Super Kev 1000)