Review: Plushed Delivers a Colorful but Challenging Fantasy Adventure

Monday, January 11, 2010

Game Name:	Plushed
Platforms:	iPhone iTouch
Publisher(s):	Black Smith Games
Genre(s):	2D Platformer
Release Date:	12/19/2009
Version Reviewed:	1.0

Rarely have I played a well polished iPhone/iTouch platform game as good as Plushed (App Store). Plushed is a 2D platforming game by Black Smith Games that takes place in a fantasy setting. A fairy mouse appeared when a girl and her bunny plushie put a cheese in front of a mouse hole. After consuming all the cheese, the fairy mouse offered grant the girl a wish to become a princess in her fairy tales. However, the fairy mouse’s evil twin interfered with the spell, and the girl and her bunny are magically transported to a realm inside the fairy tales. There, the bunny starts its quest to search for her human friend and ultimately escape from this fantasy land.

Plushed features 9 magical realms to explore. Each level is beautifully rendered, each with a unique theme. Explore ancient ruins, wild plains, mountain trails, forests, swamps, and enjoy the fantastic scenery while dodging monsters and avoiding traps. In most of the levels, players has to run and jump toward the goal to complete them. Some levels require players to collect items before that level can be beaten. There are even boss fights. Even without a weapon, bunny plushie is able to use items or rocks in the surrounding area deal damage to the bosses.

Plushed also has some unlockable secrets. Players can unlock mini-games as they collect the golden beetles present throughout the game. Collect gems and control a jetpack after you unlock these interesting mini-games.

Plushed makes use of the accelerator to do a shaking effect in the game. When players shake their iDevice, it may make pizzas drop from trees, clear the haystack, or make rocks fall from the ceiling. The accelerator can even be used to move bunny plushie around in one control scheme. However this control scheme may work better in some of the mini-games as it is hard to imagine moving your character left or right for hours just by tilting your device. Most people would probably prefer to use the left and right buttons on the screen to control the bunny.

Plushed’s greatest feature is its graphics. Its hand drawn environments and characters make you really feel like you are in a fairy tale. Bunny plushie’s animation is smooth and enjoyable to watch. It is a great feeling to watch it turns as you complete each level. But Plushed’s vibrant graphics aren’t the only pleasing feature in this great adventure. Plushed is a challenging game. You can’t just breeze through a level without dying a few times. The level design will force even a veteran 2D plaformer player to die constantly as spikes and traps appear in the most unexpected places. In later level, only with lots of tries will players get to the next checkpoint safely.

Plushed also packs some nice surprises in its level design. Get ready to run for your life as you jump into a field with a giant harvester chasing after you. Some items such as pizza can be amusing to use as it will open the mouth of snakes, attract rats to help you attack bosses, and even make a plant with a big mouth to grow sprouts that you can step on to continue your adventure forward.

Plushed does have some drawbacks. There are only a few checkpoints in each level that make this already challenging game even more challenging. Having to play the same levels over and over is also frustrating. There may also be some players that will have problems continuing the game due to its high difficulty level.

The controls could also be a bit better. Tapping any area above the virtual control pad will make your bunny jump. Players can sometimes miss the virtual left and right buttons and accidentally hit jump. During intense levels, that will probably cause the player to die and restart from the check point. Also, jump is not activated when tapping near the bottom right of the screen, that should also be fixed.

Seeing the bunny plushed in an armor with a talking sword makes you wonder why can’t your main character attack enemies directly. Perhaps the developers feel that most of the enemies should be avoided and not defeated to make this game more challenging. Still, it would be nice to have your bunny attack enemies instead of evading them all the time.

Overall, Plushed is a wonderful platforming adventure game that will entertain and amuse you for hours. With 9 vibrant and challenging levels along with unlockable mini-games, it is a well designed game that could have easily costs 20 dollars on another portable gaming platform such as the PSP or the DS. Gamers should be satisfied with the game after several hours into it. Despite its difficulty and minor control issues, the fantastic visuals and game play will have you coming back for more until you have defeated the final boss.