Recently released into the fast paced world of iOS gaming, BIG BAD Flower is the first outing for Canadian Indie studio Big Bad Brush. Containing a total of three main levels (or locations), each split into five chapters and represented by a unique enemy, this game is packed full of action. The aim of the game is domination and all morals should be left at the door as you take control of the evilest of evil flowers and prepare to take over the world.
World domination is never a walk in the park (or garden) though, and there are numerous enemies ranging from rabbits to robots that are out to stop you at every turn. You begin your fight in your own backyard against a bunch of cuddly critters who have nothing better to do than hail projectiles at you. As you take hits from thrown nuts, carrots and eggs, your flower begins to lose petals before keeling over into oblivion. To defend yourself against this incoming onslaught you must draw a circle around your foes, trapping them in a bubble, before blowing them away with a quick swipe of your evil flowers petals.
Although this initially appears to be an easy task, your rise in chapters brings about a rise in opposition and you’ll soon find yourself frantically bubbling your enemies as they quickly fill up your screen from all angles. Enemies can be trapped and eliminated either on their own or in groups, but be warned, as bigger bubbles come with the added risk of your prison popping. For those really sticky situations an entire screen of foes can be bubbled by simply tapping the lightning bolt found below your evil flower. Use this cautiously though as it can only be utilized once per chapter and you may find yourself in a far worse position later on.
Upon completing a group of chapters you will unlock one of the three special bonus levels, that offer a fresh gameplay experience and a nice change of pace. Accompanied by bombs, cute furry critters will begin falling from the sky and it’s your job to stop them. You do this by simply tapping on one of them and then tapping the flower icon in the bottom right hand corner of the screen to blow it back upwards. If you want to avoid a headache, don’t allow more than two creatures to reach the bottom of the screen and avoid tapping bombs at all costs, as both will lead to game over.
The only real issue I had whilst playing through this game was with the level of difficulty increase between chapters. It appeared to curve upwards pretty significantly jumping right from easy, to hard and bypassing the middle ground. Although the chapters are far from impossible with a little practice, I’d have liked to be eased into the harder chapters a little more slowly.
In Conclusion
I had no problems whatsoever whilst playing BIG BAD Flower, in-fact it ran flawlessly on the 2nd generation iPod that I used to test it. The colorful approach to graphics and the Fruit Ninja-style simplicity kept me playing, playing and playing some more. The game is filled with beautifully illustrated backgrounds, cute colorful characters and simple gameplay mechanics, all of which add up to a fun filled experience. The absence of achievements and posting of high scores to social networks don’t subtract much from this brilliant game, but would be a very welcomed feature if future updates are released.
