Review: A.D.D. - Addictive Dumb Distractions
by Staff Writer
November 27, 2009
Update
A.D.D. got it's first update which added ten more mini games. The ten mini games are more of the same watered down versions. You give an old guy viagra, toss bananas out of a runner's path, and push a guy off a cliff. Nothing special, but at least more mini games are making it through Apple. A.D.D. is still a should buy.
Overview
Finally after a six month wait A.D.D. is in the App Store. See our news story for a breakdown of what IUGO went through. I previewed this game back in June at E3, and have been waiting for it ever since. Addictive Dumb Distractions is similar in gameplay to WarioWare from Nintendo. A.D.D. amps up the mature rating of the game and couples that with a cooky art style. The game is set up as though you’re channel surfing. This is really the only one of its kind in the App Store.
Features
The game includes 70 mini-games at launch which is reduced in number, and raunchiness from the original product submitted to Apple back in June. Three gameplay modes are included: practice, quick play, and hardcore. Practice mode is the starting point of the game where you’re presented tv stations with different mini-game content. You need to pass a certain number of mini-games per station to unlock the next one. Six stations are included, and you need to unlock them all for hardcore mode. Quickplay mode allows you to play any minigames you have unlocked, and you try to make it as far as you can with four lives. Hardcore mode gives you all of the mini-games, but you only have one life.
The Good
The random quirky WarioWare style has finally made it to the iPhone. It’s great to be presented with random mini-games requiring you to think fast, and act faster. You’re given the title and control type, and you have about 3-5 seconds to figure out what you need to do, and then do it. The three different gameplay modes provide varying challenges, and present a nice unlocking mechanism. Hardcore was my favorite mode as it’s just so high risk with one wrong and done. The game is perfect for a few short minutes in your day anytime anywhere. The TV channel surfing theme works perfectly, and is intertwined nicely. The descriptions of the TV stations are hilarious too. Two of my favorites are Food Network: “TV to make you even fatter” and Adult network: “For the classy kind of pervert.” The crude sense of humor is toned down a little, but still great.
The art style is cooky, and most reminiscent of Ren & Stimpy. Every mini-game is designed with an absurd cartoon style, and the animations are quite good. You can notice the new inserted mini-games as their artwork is more mundane just like the gameplay. The sounds go perfectly from the goofy theme song to the varying sound effects of the characters.
The control method is amazing because it requires you to use all of the iPhone’s different capabilities through out all of the mini-games. Online high scores are included for quickplay and hardcore mode using IUGO’s typical high score format which is nice. A save system is included to pick up on the exact mini-game you left on.
The Bad
By no fault of IUGO this game is sadly different from the one I previewed back in June. Many of the raunchy, and disgusting mini-games are gone despite the numerous adult content warnings in the App Store description. Those have been replaced by the mundane with clearing off a screen to reveal a penguin arctic picture, flying a flight control plane, and cleaning your room. Missing is peeing on snowmen, and instead you’re putting out a fire. Also absent are undoing a chick’s bra, and dropping a pencil into a butt crack. With many others also gone that will probably never see the light of day. Updates may come out, but it will be more watered down versions of these mini-games.
Though the game says it has over 70 mini-games, playing through any of the gameplay modes it feels like a lot less. Repetition comes in quickly, and soon it becomes a memory game rather than the randomness that makes the WarioWare type game. It doesn’t take long until you’ve played every game, and then you just have to easily recall how to beat it.
