Craneballs Studio’s latest offering, Superfall, is a ragdoll physics/endurance game loaded with character, powerups, awards, unlockables and more. Select one of the 30 different “dolls”, each of which has its own unique set of characteristics, and let the free-fall begin. The goal is to fall as far down as possible (the randomly generated level) whilst steering left and right simply by tilting your device. On the (hopefully) long way down, you’ll need to avoid a veritable cornucopia of obstacles including pistons, grinders, blakcholes, rotary wheels, vents, traps, bumpers, mines. Craneballs has done a great job creating a realistic and responsive ragdoll physics engine.
As we mentioned, there are 30 different unlockable ‘knitted dolls’ (which range from cute cats, to scary skeletons and everything in between. The texture and graphics of the dolls is really well done, making them look fairly realistic. Unfortunately when it comes to audio stimulation, Superfall falls a bit short. While there are some great sound effects, for whatever reason, Craneballs has decided to only put in-game music during the menu screens and not during the actual gameplay. In fact, we weren’t even able to listen to music from our device’s own music library during the game. This is a shortcoming that we hope is addressed in a future update.
As you play the game, you will need to perform certain tasks like “destroy ragdoll 100 times” or “get total 10,000 feet” and collect bonus “experience” items to be able to unlock the additional dolls and the game’s three playable worlds. There are a total of 43 awards that can be achieved and these too help to unlock the additional playable characters. Full OpenFeint integration adds global leaderboards for each of the game’s three worlds, achievements for each of the in-game awards, and even the ability to challenge friends.
During your freefall there are several items which can be collected (either on purpose or by accident) that will either help or hinder you. Capturing a snow flake will put a block of ice on your head to help protect your noggin from damage for a short period of time. There is also a flame which will actually inflict damage on you until it eventually goes out. Stars will give you instant experience points which can be used to buy new dolls and health powerups will fix you up a little bit. There are also bottles of liquid which will temporarily reverse your left/right controls, creating a bit of confusion. Finally, you will the opportunity to grab random costumes that will temporarily give you all of that character’s attributes, which may or may not be a good thing.
While falling, besides “steering” your character, you also have the ability to tap and hold the screen to slow time, adding a particularly nice strategic element to the game. You do not have an unlimited supply of this “bullet time” and it will runs down fairly quickly, so you will need to use it sparingly. Although the time warp meter recharges itself over time, so when used wisely, it is an invaluable tool which must be mastered to succeed in this game.
In Conclusion
Superfall is more than just a mindless, game of tilting and luck. Its unique “time warp” feature, award system, cast of unlockable characters and randomly generated levels make this one of the most fun and strategic ragdoll physics games we’ve played on the platform. For your $1.99 you are getting a lot of gameplay. Fans of the genre, this is a must buy and those who usually steer clear of ragdoll physics games, we think you might just fall for Superfall.
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