Crazy Test! In Review – Mini Game Madness For Your iDevice!
Article Link: Crazy Test! In Review – Mini Game Madness For Your iDevice!
I’ve probably said it about 50 times by now but I absolutely love pick-up-and-play style games. As fun and immersive as some of these top end titles are, there is nothing more enjoyable than a title you can simply pick up, start playing in seconds and put down whenever you have to, without the fear of losing track of where you are, or not saving at a crucial point. Most recently, I found another title that fits the bill. Crazy Test! is a WarioWare inspired game that is both insanely fun, and can drive you insane at the same time.
Playing the game varies throughout the whole Crazy Test! experience. Using just about every ability of the device (multi-touch, accelerometer, etc) you touch, swipe and shake your way to victory in over 70 different games with only seconds to complete the task at hand. If you aren’t familiar with the WarioWare or mini game style of play and this sounds intimidating, don’t worry. Although your controls might change from game to game, you are given instructions before each round. The games are designed so that just about anyone can jump right in and play them. It’s mastering them that will drive you crazy.
During gameplay, your “lives” are represented by stamps of a donkey head. After a certain amount of successful rounds, stamps are added. After any uncompleted round, you lose lives until it’s game over. As far as types of play, there are 3 available: The Crazy Test, Survival and Mini Games. The first is the standard version of the game. You simply play along and see how far you can get. The second (survival) is the same as the first, except that you only get 1 life for the entire duration of the game. Finally, the last mode (mini games) allows you to pick and choose which games to play. More will become available as they are unlocked through regular game play.
One of the things that usually takes the biggest hit with these mini game titles is the graphics. With the focus being placed so much on the fun factor and its pick up and play ability, the visuals are usually the main sacrifice. This is somewhat true for Crazy Test!. Although it’s not terrible looking, there is definitely room for improvement in this department. A lot of the menu and UI images look amazing, while the filler graphics and the items used in each of the mini games at times could use some more work. If Tactile Entertainment (developers of the game) were to further improve the overall visuals via updates, this could be one of the best titles in the genre.
One thing I was pleasantly surprised to see was the inclusion of the OpenFeint platform. Having this allows you to not only challenge your friends, but also see how you stand among other players worldwide. It’s always a great addition to any title and I am glad to see it here. Continuing on the social integration, they also allow you to post to Twitter and Facebook. Yet another method to taunt and tease your friends with your high scores.
Overall, I definitely enjoyed Crazy Test!. Everything about it screams pick-up-and-play, which I love. At the same time, there are enough mini games (70 as of current version) and they’re addictive enough that you won’t get bored playing them for more than minutes at a time. I would definitely have to recommend this to all fans of the genre and those who loved the WarioWare series as well. As long as you can look past the fact that you won’t be seeing out-of-this-world graphics (remember people, the focus is on the gameplay!), I’m sure you’ll have a blast.
iTunes: Crazy Test!
