Review: Fruit Ninja HD
by Staff Writer
July 15, 2010
Overview
Fruit Ninja is one of the most popular games for the iPhone so it makes perfect sense for Halfbrick studios to bring it to the iPad. The basic gameplay returns where you slice fruit that pop up on screen. The iPad version has brand new visuals, and an all new multiplayer mode.
Features
The main feature is the multiplayer mode allowing you to play head to head with someone on one iPad. The game has two single player modes giving you classic where if you get three strikes or touch a bomb it’s game over. Zen mode is just a game trying to score as much as you can in 90 seconds. Duel classic is scoreless as the first person with three strikes or a bomb touch loses, and dual zen is 60 seconds. There are many combo bonuses to go for based on how many fruits you chop with one slice, and there are critical fruits for bonuses as well. You can unlock new colored blade swipes as well as backgrounds plus there is OpenFeint for online highs scores and achievements.
The Good
The game is just fun, there’s no other way to put it. With silky smooth controls you actually feel like you’re slicing up those fruits. The game is non-stop action that you can find yourself playing over and over. The iPad version offers a bigger canvas for your swipes to allow finer precision to slice combos and avoid bombs. Classic and Zen mode offer unique mechanics that you can jump between when one mode gets stale. The premise of the game itself is humorous, and it’s always fun slicing up something.
The multiplayer is the main difference between the iPad and iPhone versions as all the goodness of the iPhone version is present in the iPad version. The multiplayer on one iPad is tons of fun as you compete directly to see who the slicing champion is. Every grouping of fruit that is tossed up you have a chance to slice more and make better combos that you can compare right then and there.
You better have a solid surface for the iPad because you and your friend will be slicing madly. It changes the game completely with a score to shoot for right across the iPad. Classic mode is a tough challenge to concentrate on your own fruit when you want to see your opponent miss. You can step in to help them miss with special bonus bombs you can deploy at any time.
The Bad
The iPad version is practically the same as the iPhone version in every way except for the multiplayer mode. The difference in price is $4.99 for iPad compared to $0.99 for iPhone. The game plays the same on the iPad, and only the visuals are sharper. There is no new type of gameplay mechanic with more fruit on screen at the same size as the iPhone version similar to what Flight Control HD and Harbor Master HD have done. It would be great to see a bigger background with tons of small fruit rather than the same game on the bigger screen.
The gameplay is somewhat repetitive even between the two game modes as you’re always slicing fruit that pops up on screen. The iPhone version running at double pixel is definitely passable and is a better decision if you’re only looking for the single player.
