Review: ContraSense
ContraSense v1.6 | Published by Soneso | Via Soneso Repository | Free
Overview
Did you like SpyHunter? Do you have an iPhone? Do you giggle like a little kid every time you get to play with one of those Wii controllers that move you on the screen by contorting yourself into odd positions that will make strangers point and laugh at you? Can I write an overview comprised entirely of questions? Do you want to play the Question game?
Review
I'm going to go ahead and ruin the suspense: I like ContraSense a lot. In fact, I think ContraSense is a totally flippin' cool game. So if you were just curious IF it's enjoyable, the answer is an enthusiastic "yes", and get thee to Installer. If you want to know WHY I like it, read on...
NOTE: This is a very simple game, a fact upon which I will elaborate shortly. But there's essentially two screens: the not-playing screen and the playing screen. The not playing screen asks you if you want to play and in the playing screen you're playing. I like this simplicity, but it makes it rather hard to document the deeper aesthetic elements of the design. So I just kinda frantically poked at my screenshot button while trying my best not to crash into cars, and I hope you all understand.
From what I've seen, Soneso plans to specialize in accelerometer games. Don't be embarrassed if you don't know what an accelerometer is - until I started geeking out over the iPhone, I always half-thought it was the thing they tried to use to kill James Bond with G-forces in Moonraker (turns out that's called a Centrifuge). Before I start going off on a Bond tangent, I'll get back on topic: the accelerometer is the sensor on your iPhone that detects it's orientation. That is, whether you're tilting it forward, back, or to one side, and whether you're holding it vertically or horizantally. It's how Safari knows when to flip itself from landscape to portrait. And because it's surprisingly sensitive, the good folks at Soneso feel you should use it to pick up coins while avoiding other cars.
When you open ContraSense, you're given two options: "Play" or "Highscores". Selecting play puts you immediately into the game, where you control a car rather recklessly driving against the flow of traffic in pursuit of enormous gold coins (if these coins are to scale, each is almost half the size of the car, so you can understand the profit motive). You tilt the iPhone forward to go faster, back to slow down, and side to side for steering. The goal is to reach the end of each level while collecting as many half-car coins as you can.
That's it! As my friend said when I told her about the game, and I quote from an IM window:
HER: "pick up coins while avoiding cars? that's the game?"
ME: "Yep. It's like Spy Hunter."
HER: "spiffy."
It's from the old-school design of games, where you didn't need a several million dollar budget and A-list voice talent dress up your game. A simple one-sentence premise, no frills, here's-the-game-have-fun. And it succeeds brilliantly in that regard.
Summary
Perfectly suited to the iPhone. Play when you need amusement, don't stress over reaching the next save point or getting stuck and looking for a walk-through.
Usability: 5 / 5 Value: 4 / 5 Entertainment: 5 / 5 Aesthetics: 4 / 5
