iOS Game Time: Hedgehogs in Space (and Other Marvels)

Posted 11/09/2010 at 5:43pm | by Nic Vargus

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This week, you've got a chance at winning the excellent Sims 3: Ambitions expansion!

For more information on how to win the Editor’s High Score, tweet an embarrassing secret, then make your way to the bottom of the page, where the instructions are.


Fruit Ninja
Halfbrick Studios
$0.99, $4.99

Unlike reviews, GameTime is afforded some very unique abilities. Like, if we’ve reviewed something, posted an article about it, and put it in a previous column, it doesn’t mean we can’t have another round of fun with it when it gets a big update. Such is the case with Fruit Ninja.



Why all the press for Fruit Ninja? Partially because it’s awesome, and partially because it keeps getting major updates. The newest in a string of updates brings a new Arcade mode, which seems like the only type of game play Fruit Ninja should have had in the first place. In Arcade Mode, you’ve got 60 seconds to sling together your best fruit-slashing combos and take home the ultimate high score. Slicing a banana serves as a power-up, which can seriously help your score blow up.



It’s also this week’s Editor’s High Score. Unlike last week, my score can’t be beat this time around: a whopping 554. iPad or iPhone version, it doesn’t matter because there’s no way that score gets beat. But if you so happen to beat it, check out our official rules at the bottom.



Puzzle Quest HD
Transgaming
$4.99

Puzzle Quest HD is a simple match-three game that heaps on tons of gratuitous (and fun) RPG elements. You get a chance to add armor, learn spells, and customize your character. RPG puzzle games are nothing new, but we love them for their ridiculousness. I mean, what says “Cast Water Tsunami Spell” like connecting four blue pog-looking things?



Nothing.
Plus, when all is said and done, you still get these emotionally-moving cutscenes.



Hedgehog Launch
Armor Games Inc
$0.99

Sure, we’ve sort of compared everything to Doodle Jump since it was released in 2009, but that’s because it’s so good everyone wants to be it. Now, Hedgehog Launch isn’t exactly what you might consider a Doodle Jump clone, but its similarities are undeniable. With Hedgehog Launch you shoot a cutesy little hedgehog into the sky, and bounce off of platforms to get higher and higher. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

The difference is, in Hedgehog Launch there are upgrades and a definite end to the game. All you have to do is shoot the Hedgehog into space and you win. The quicker you can do this, the more achievements you’ll get in the end. My first launch came after 43 days, but by the second time I played through I had launched 16 days. For those of you that don't get far, don't you worry--there’s an achievement for launching under seven days.

Because of it’s definitive ending and tacked-on story, Hedgehog Launch feels a bit more like a single-serving game than Doodle Jump. If we had to recommend one of the two, our vote would go with Doodle Jump. But that’s the good news--we don’t have to, and neither should you. Hedgehog Launch is completely deserving of your 99 cents and we recommend it wholeheartedly.



Plus you can try and beat our Editor’s mini-high score of 16 day launch with no radar. BOOM.




That’s it for this week’s GT.

OFFICIAL RULES: You have one more week to enter BOTH Sims' Editor's Highscore contests, simply upload your screenshots (of your highscore in Fruit Ninja and/or Rat On A Scooter XL) to Nic's Flickr page. The Winners will be chosen from the Flickr page! Get to uploadin'.

If you have any questions, ask them in the comments or ask the author on Twitter.