Review: World Cup Air Hockey
by Mchase
May 16, 2009
Overview:
World Cup Air Hockey affords you the greatness that is an air hockey table at the touch of a button - or, rather, a picture of a button (cause we ain't got none)... And best of all, you don't have to put a quarter on the table to call next game.
Features:
The game includes three modes of play to choose from. Practice is obvious - it's a single game. Head to head allows you to play with a friend on the same device. And, finally, Tournament Mode allows you to select a country with which to work your way through the ranks and become an International Air Hockey Champion (if only in your head).
The Good:
Not much needs to be done to satisfy the graphics requirements of an air hockey table and it's score board, but the devs did a pretty nice job on this one. And $.99 isn't too bad of a price either.
The Bad
Okay, so... I absolutely love the idea of air hockey at my fingertips (being the Air Hockey Champion of 99, 00, and 02-05 - I retired after the incident in 06), but, unfortunately, it didn't work out quite the way that I had hoped.
My main problem with this app is that the screen is just too small for this kind of game. So small, in fact, that when the puck flies at you, it leaves you almost no time to react.
Problem #2 comes with the actual, what's that thing called....puck hitting device (PHD)? Sure, we'll call it that. It's just a tad sluggish as it follows where your finger goes (kind of), and there is really no control over the angle at which you hit your puck.
I ended up scoring on myself more than I did my opponent. It might be better if your finger was the actual paddle (that's what it's called!), but even then, it'd be hard to get the right angle on it.
The Verdict:
I personally wasn't a huge fan of this app. It's a good first draft and I think it could get better with a few revisions, but at this stage of the game it's just not doin' it for me. There is a lite version which I recommend you try before throwing the idea completely out the window. Who knows, maybe you'll find that you love it.