Ramp Champ

Like Skee-Ball meets, strangely, some of my criticisms of Skee-Ball. (I think that maybe, in the future, I should start looking ahead in this list of games before I write my critiques. It seems like Josh has set some traps for me here.)

A couple steps forward, one huge step back. This version of skee-ball features some immediately noticeable improvements over the previous simulation. It's prettier, for one, and the levels (of which there are more than one) offer some much-needed variation in the gameplay. Most importantly, though, each level has a few pre-established goals, which really marks a significant advancement in the skee-ball simulation arms race.

This installment also features little items to buy with tickets won while playing the game and also has a little display case for your loot. In a fickle twist, I think the items here and the display case, etc., are better drawn/designed but the items themselves seem less interesting. I guess I'm kind of hard to please (sorry!) but maybe this underscores how difficult it is to pull off this type of "collectible things" sort of bonus in a game.

So this version generally seems better. Unfortunately, that impression only lasts until one starts playing the game.

It turns out that the controls and physics in Skee-Ball are brilliant! Here I thought it was just a dumb, repetitive game! After playing Ramp Champ, however, I have a much clearer idea of how well made Skee-Ball really is. Oh, it still seems dumb and repetitive, but it's rocket science compared to Ramp Champ! (I'm going to have to revise my entry on Skee-Ball now.)

Basically, it's way, way harder to be consistent in Ramp Champ. I'm not sure if its the fact that the "runway" is much shorter or if the controls are less nuanced. Maybe the physics engine is less robust or perhaps the game just sucks, I don't know, but Ramp Champ is a very frustrating game. This is more of a tragedy here than it would have been on Skee-Ball because on Ramp Champ one has to shoot at moving targets and (this may be my own issue) in Ramp Champ I actually cared about what the ball hit. Skee-Ball was only about points and tickets which, if one just keeps flinging balls down the alley, you're guaranteed to get. Here, however, I'm actually trying to hit that damn clown and I just can't freaking do it! (Curse you, clown!)

Finally, this is the first game I've played that actually crashed on me. Boo!

I played (all?) four levels, completed the first goal on each level and bought some finger puppets. (You can see the finger puppets in the screenshot I found for this post. Finger puppets are cool.)

P.S. I'm writing the first draft of this critique on the Touch. Why won't this thing let me (slowly, painfully, frustratingly) move the cursor if it's already offering a suggestion for correcting my spelling? It's... it's being an asshole! (Oh, wait -- I see. I have to tap away to dismiss the suggestion and then re-tap and hold to bring up the magnifying glass. Okay, not an asshole, just retarded.)