by Brian LeTendre
Mighty Fin is a fun side-scroller that initially hooked me (see what I did there?) with it’s simple control scheme and charming aesthetic. After spending some more time with the game, I also found a lot of reasons to keep coming back.
In Mighty Fin you play as the title character, a fish who embarks on a vacation that takes him to various locations around the world. Unfortunately for Fin, his travel agent Shady Sal has booked some rather dangerous locales for Fin to spend his vacation in, and Fin has to avoid hazards ranging from hungry seagulls to spiked ice flows while trying to collect bubbles and new outfits to wear on his adventure.
The game’s core mechanic is simple, and perfectly suited to the iPhone’s touchscreen. Fin moves through the water on his own at a consistent pace. The player touches the screen to make Fin dive deeper into the water, and lets go to make Fin jump up and out of the water. The collectibles and the hazards are arranged so that you need to time your jumps and dives to navigate them effectively. It’s a mechanic that’s very easy to understand, and even my five year old was able to pick the game up and play almost immediately.
Once you’ve beaten a level, it becomes unlocked and can be played over and over again. As you make your way through different levels, things get a bit more difficult, but I never found the later levels frustrating. The game features leaderboards as well, and that combined with the collectible outfits gives players a reason to replay levels multiple times.
All in all, Mighty Fin offers a really fun experience for gamers of all ages. Launching Pad Games is quickly becoming one of my favorite developers, as they clearly understand the strengths of the platform they are developing for. Their games also feature great writing, characters and visual design. Mighty Fin is an easy recommend for me.
4.5 out of 5 Costumed Goldfish
You can get Mighty Fin now on iTunes for a mere $0.99. To keep up on all of Launching Pad's projects, head over to www.launchingpadgames.com.
Mighty Fin is a fun side-scroller that initially hooked me (see what I did there?) with it’s simple control scheme and charming aesthetic. After spending some more time with the game, I also found a lot of reasons to keep coming back.
In Mighty Fin you play as the title character, a fish who embarks on a vacation that takes him to various locations around the world. Unfortunately for Fin, his travel agent Shady Sal has booked some rather dangerous locales for Fin to spend his vacation in, and Fin has to avoid hazards ranging from hungry seagulls to spiked ice flows while trying to collect bubbles and new outfits to wear on his adventure.
The game’s core mechanic is simple, and perfectly suited to the iPhone’s touchscreen. Fin moves through the water on his own at a consistent pace. The player touches the screen to make Fin dive deeper into the water, and lets go to make Fin jump up and out of the water. The collectibles and the hazards are arranged so that you need to time your jumps and dives to navigate them effectively. It’s a mechanic that’s very easy to understand, and even my five year old was able to pick the game up and play almost immediately.
Once you’ve beaten a level, it becomes unlocked and can be played over and over again. As you make your way through different levels, things get a bit more difficult, but I never found the later levels frustrating. The game features leaderboards as well, and that combined with the collectible outfits gives players a reason to replay levels multiple times.
All in all, Mighty Fin offers a really fun experience for gamers of all ages. Launching Pad Games is quickly becoming one of my favorite developers, as they clearly understand the strengths of the platform they are developing for. Their games also feature great writing, characters and visual design. Mighty Fin is an easy recommend for me.
4.5 out of 5 Costumed Goldfish
You can get Mighty Fin now on iTunes for a mere $0.99. To keep up on all of Launching Pad's projects, head over to www.launchingpadgames.com.
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