Underworld Entertainment has recently released their new, and first, game Vertigo. The game is similar to the childhood game Jenga, and I am quite impressed with what they accomplished. The physics used in this game are quite impressive, and the touch controls aren’t that bad although I’ve had some problems with it’s response.
The gameplay, as I mentioned above, is exactly like Jenga where you carefully take out the sticks and stack them on top. Once the tower falls, it’s game over. The intuitive multi-touch controls used in this game work very nicely, but I have had some problems when it comes to taking the stick out of the tower. The response wasn’t too great at times, and this is one factor that I would love to see updated. The gameplay is somewhat intense while taking the stick out and piling it on top of the tower, and there is 4-player multiplayer also included. The multiplayer is pass and play, which is not bad since I can’t quite imagine a WiFi multiplayer playing this game. There are three singleplayer modes included in this version including time attack and randomness. I only tried the first mode which was I believe Karma Beach and enjoyed it quite a bit although I would like to see a highscore list that records local and maybe even global highscores.
Graphics are in beautifully rendered 3D graphics, and this game used the Unity 3D engine to make. The tower itself looks very nice, just like a pile of sticks (which is a good thing), and I have no complaints about in-game graphics and artwork. The part of the artwork that I think needs to be fixed is the menu designs and button designs. The font used for the game is somewhat unreadable, and although I commend the devs for trying to follow the whole “Thai” theme, the font is unreadable at times. I also found the menu buttons to be a little dark, which again, makes it hard to read the text.
All in all, this is a game that has great potential and with graphics like these, you won’t be disappointed. So is it really Jenga on your iPhone? I would say so. Multi-touch controls were obviously well thought out and pretty well executed. I did experience a few glitches when trying to put the “stick” on top of the tower (i.e. the stick not dropping) but again, this is a work in progress. Underworld Entertainment has released a pretty nice game with so much potential. With a few bug fixing and highscore list updates, I think we’ll have a winner.
The price is $1.99 and the creators are Underworld Entertainment. This is their first iPhone/iPod Touch game.
Editor's Note: The first impression you've just read is aimed at giving you an overview of the game, and our first thoughts after spending some time with it. For full reviews and recommendations, please visit our reviews section.
Tags: $1.99, Jenga, Underworld Entertainment, Vertigo
I like the idea of this kind of game. I’d like to see it taken one step further, and have a full out Boom Blox port. Lots of those simple, casual games could translate onto the iPhone nicely.
But wait, you say “childhood” game Jenga? You can never grow out of Jenga