Now here’s an interesting game that shows a lot of promise: Ultimate Finger [App Store].
At first glance, it seems like it may just be another whack-a-mole tapping game, which happens to come in a nice package. As it turns out, the developers have added a number of interesting elements that expand significantly on the gameplay.
The premise of the game is that you are the guardian of a powerful Crystal which you must defend against monsters who hope to use it to destroy the world. The Crystal is in the middle of a field centered on your screen. You must defend against goblins, werewolves, trolls, and wizards who try to drag the crystal off-screen. As guardian, you have a certain amount of magical power that can be used against the invading enemies. These come in 3 different attacks which are invoked with on-screen gestures:
- The Thunder – tapping on the screen
- The Pillar of Fire – dragging your finger on the screen
- The Explosion – drawing a circle on the screen
Each progressive attack is more powerful but drains more of your limited magical power. Fortunately, your magical power regenerates as the game goes forward but you need to use your powers strategically.
The game gets more interesting as you progress in the story mode and find that certain creatures require certain attacks. Werewolves are immune to fire, while trolls will only respond to fire. Wizards are sensitive to any attack until they start casting their spell after which only an explosion will disrupt them.
For each level, you have two minutes to defend and by the end it can become quite a frantic experience trying to cast the proper spells at the hoard of attackers. Story mode increases difficulty with each of the 5 levels. Once you complete story mode, it opens up an untimed endless game mode where you can play for a highscore.
While I enjoyed the game, I can’t help but feel there could be more to it. The 5 levels can be completed relatively quickly which leaves you with endless mode to play. Scores are only kept locally so there is no way to compare directly with other players. Meanwhile, similarly structured high-score challenge games (though less unique) can be had in the App Store for less.
I hope the developers expand on the game concept further in the future as there seems to be a lot of potential. For now, it might be worth waiting for further updates before picking up this title at its current price.
[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]
App Store Link: Ultimate Finger, $3.99
