Air Penguin Review

One very unique Penguin with the ability to perform front flips and the inability to swim is on a mission to save his family after global warming caused the ice to melt and separate them onto melting ice caps.

Gameplay
As mentioned above, our hero penguin here is very unique as you’ll be tilting the IPhone to control how far the penguin flips and the direction he heads into, due to the game’s multi directional control. You’ll also be finding yourself flying over and sliding across the ice as go from point A to point B. There are five fish to collect in each area which adds to your overall score at the end of each level.

You also have access to special items which you can purchase with the fish you collected. These items can give you a helpful boost on a difficult level such as knocking out the sharks or giving the penguin an extra chance when you hit the water.

The levels start off easy but become much harder later on as more obstructions are added such as the giant shark who’d like nothing more for you to do then front flip into its mouth or the Walrus’s who push you off the ice caps. Having these obstructions come up on specific levels makes the game flow well and not suddenly become too easy or too difficult.

Be able to move the penguin in any direction you wish.

The game also introduces sea life that can be used to your advantage in the game such as the Turtle which you can ride or the whale which can make u jump across great lengths. These small additions have their advantages and can help you cross a level significantly quicker however some of them such as the starfish require strict timing to jump on. It’s a good addition to the gameplay and helps to ease the stress on some of the more difficult levels, however even saying that it still doesn’t make it easy for the player to use which balances things out.

Air Penguin also features “Survival Mode”. This mode features a similar set up to the main story mode but instead of going from one point to the other, you keep going forward until you eventually lose. The game tracks how much distance you covered and saves it into your scores. This is a great re-playability factor and the use of the high scores could add a sense of competition between you and your friends.

Graphics
The opening cutscene makes use of an excellent play through of a digital comic that portrays the story pretty well, unfortunately the play through is so fast that it makes it difficult to understand and there’s no way to replay it. It’s also disappointing how after you save a penguin, it doesn’t feature a digital comic but rather a still instead.
The in game graphics make use of simplistic yet effective artwork, which is accompanied by bold colours that make the levels really stand out.

Just a few of the sea creatures you will encounter throughout the game.

Design
Levels can be very spacious to overly crowded, depending on its difficulty. The game works from a top down view which works nicely and enables the player to see most of what’s around them. Other then what’s needed for the actual gameplay, the level does not feature any kind of background work but this may work in its favour since it gives off a cleaner look. There is however one major inconsistency with the game, in which all deaths lead to the same cutscene where the penguin drowns. In some cases this makes absolute sense if the penguin hits the water however when eaten by a shark, it doesn’t make sense for the penguin to drown a second time.
Menu design is great as well showing off the landscape and the many levels you’ll have to encounter, something which was similarly done in Crazy Penguin, however things do look a little squashed but using the Ice caps as markers for each level is a good touch as it relates back to the game’s core mechanic.

Just some of the items you'll be able to use to get the one over on your enemies.

Final Verdict
Air Penguin can be fun yet extremely frustrating at the same time. Its use of sea life as a gameplay element really adds a more strategic factor to how you approach certain levels. It’s a little sad that its comic cutscene style couldn’t be used more throughout which could have deepened its story a little more, however through its unique top down gameplay and creative levels, Air Penguin is an absolute joy to play.

Gameplay = 8.6/10
Graphics = 7.7/10
Design = 7

Final We Know Gamers score = 7.7/10