Price: $0.99 Score: 8/10 Category: Games
Combining a simple pick-up-and-play concept with the visual style of games like Little Big Planet, Kosmo Spin from Simogo is a charming and enjoyable little diversion perfectly suited for fans of casual games like Doodle Jump or Angry Birds. And with simple controls and cuter-than-cute graphics, it could very well join those titles as a breakout hit.
In Kosmo Spin, your mission is simple: use your finger to spin around your little planetoid, collecting muffins, toast, and other breakfast items before the UFO can suck them up using its beam. In addition, the UFO will drop items, including soccer balls, volleyballs, boulders, and more in order to impede your progress. You allow the sporting goods to bounce off your head, and if it bounces into the UFO, you’ll gain points. The other items, such as the boulders, will hurt your character or shake the planet, freezing you in place for a moment.
As you’d expect, while continuing through the game, the levels become faster and the UFOs become more aggressive. They pursue you relentlessly with their tractor beam and drop more and more items on the screen, all while sucking up your precious breakfast items. Naturally, Kosmo Spin is Game Center compatible, meaning you can post your scores to the leaderboard for bragging rights.
If this frenzied arcade-style gameplay gets to be too much for you to handle, there’s also a nifty Quest Mode, currently containing thirty-six quests, with the promise of more to come via downloadable updates. These quests begin simply, requiring you to score a certain amount of points in a specific time, or bounce a ball on your head multiple times. More difficult quest challenges will test your spinning skills to the max, though you may run out of modes just as you start feeling like an expert.
Kosmo Spin is an incredibly charming game. The cute characters and humorous text and dialog make it a joy to play. As mentioned, the patchwork vibe bears a striking resemblance to Little Big Planet or Kirby’s Epic Yarn, and it looks marvelous on the iPhone’s bright display. Unfortunately, because the game requires the player to spin the playfield around constantly, you may find your finger getting in the way of some of the action from time to time.
Bottom Line: The content in Kosmo Spin in its present form feels a bit thin. However, once the promised updates are delivered, the game should provide more than enough entertainment for your dollar.
Kosmo Spin is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1.3 or later.