Posts tagged ragdoll blaster

Hmpf. I’ve gone off this a little bit, I have to say. Just a little bit, but I found too many annoying stages when I played last night. The kind where I had to stop playing, come back, stop playing again, come back… etc. They all got beaten eventually, but some of the time I really don’t think I was having fun.

Exhibit A: The most annoying level of them all. It seems fairly simple. Fire your little chaps into the mechanism to push the wheel around, which will then push out the target. However, I couldn’t work out how to do it reliably at all. I did work out that you needed to fire at it when the big block on the cannon side of the screen was going in, but I just couldn’t get the timing down at all. I did it eventually, but I’m not really sure how. Either I was missing something or it relies on timing so precise that I can’t see it… or maybe it does rely on luck. I’m not sure. If I am being an idiot – very possible, I know – let me know.

Anyway, last night I got as far as the level shown above. I’ve not tried it yet, so I’m not sure if it’s going to be incredibly simple or horribly frustrating – there’s not a lot of middle ground. Also, you’ll see I’m already up to level seventy-six of “over a hundred”.

So, my recommendation for this game is a little more cautious now, though I still like it. When playing the demo – which you should – bear in mind that it uses a cherry-picked selection of levels from throughout the game and make a decision based on that.

In the old days, this might have been a free Flash game on a web site. Now it costs £1.19 and runs on your iPhone. Progress? Yes, if it keeps the developer in pizza and Diet Coke and means we’ll get more games of this quality. It’s another simple game when it comes to controls. There is a cannon on the screen. You tap on the screen and the location of your tap sets the angle and power of your shot. That’s it.

You’re not shooting cannon balls, though, but little rag dolls. Hence the name and all that. Your goal is simply to make the big red target and a rag doll touch. That can mean firing a rag doll into the target or, as in the level shown above, leaving a rag doll lying on the floor and then getting the target moving so it hits him.

It’s simple, amusing and devilishly addictive. So much so that I worry that the game will be far too short-lived. I’m running through the game like a race horse on speed who desperately needs the toilet. Or something. Maybe the developers will offer more levels in the future. But if not, I’ll have spent a mere £1.19 on something that entertained me greatly – and I could always go back and try to do previously-completed levels more efficiently.

Of course, I might start it up at lunchtime and find myself completely stuck on a level and delete it from my phone in a fit of game rage. Let’s hope not, eh?