I’ve been obsessed with grappling hooks in games ever since I sent the Hero of Hyrule flying across the 8-bit monochromatic dungeons in Link’s Awakening. While gaming has moved on significantly since these formative exploratory days, it seems our adoration of hooking onto distant objects remains as fervent as ever, and Grapple Gum is the latest in a long line of excellent App Store titles aiming to capitalise on this innate passion of humanity. If you’re an avid reader of TouchArcade (in which case, please take my eternal love), you’ll likely have noticed we already wrote about the eccentric combination of grappling gameplay with shooting action in Grapple Gum back in June, however today the developer has finally announced that the title is set to release onto the App Store for $1.99 on September 14th.
As well as the shiny new launch trailer that showcases the frenetic action of Grapple Gum in all its cartoon glory, developer Liva has revealed more details about the exact nature of the substantial package of challenges within the games. Ten levels are within the game, all with ten humongous bosses waiting to be taken down with six unique and upgradeable weapons to choose from. 42 bonus powers are also able to be unlocked, and should help make the slingshotting gameplay elements even more hectic as the enemies flood the screen. The juxtaposition of Grapple Gum’s childish, cartoony aesthetic with its relentless shooting of nefarious beasts is extremely satisfying, and if the swipe controls work as intuitively as the trailer suggest, Grapple Gum will be a must buy when it finally launches on September 14th. Until then, head to our forum thread for even more information and discussion over Grapple Gum.