Review: Crazy Test
by Staff Writer
May 18, 2010
Overview
Crazy Test is a game based upon the Wario Ware theme where you’re given a series of micro games. The game tells you a quick line of what to do, and then you have a few seconds to figure out what’s going on, and then do it. Every micro game requires a capability of the iPhone with tap, swipe, drag, tilt, and shake.
Features
There are three gameplay modes with the main being the Crazy Test which requires you to survive through 70 micro games starting with two lives. Some of the games repeat, but they’re more difficult the second time around, and if you beat five in a row you earn an extra life. There are 33 mini-games in all, and you unlock them through Crazy Test mode, and can play individual ones over and over with increasing difficulty. The third mode is survival mode which gives you only one life, and presents the micro-games in random order. OpenFeint is included for online high scores, achievements, and challenges. The game has an overarching theme of cats, donkeys, pandas, and stuffed animals.
The Good
The game is hectic and crazy that will provide tons of laughs, fun, and challenge. The best aspect of the micro game style is that you’re given one line of your objective, and you need to think fast, and act faster. You need to figure out what to do, and then do it in about five seconds. The game is absolutely hilarious from the multiple appearances of cats, donkeys, pandas, and stuffed animals to the absurdity of the various games. For example you need to pet stuffed bunnies with a lawn mower, overstuff a cat, shoot a slingshot at a panda, stop hands from taking underwear off a cat, take balloons from a floating girl, and spin a merry go round hard enough for the kids to fly off.
Even more hilarious is watching these games conclude with guiding a man past crocodiles only to be eaten by a tiger, open a letter to find a Mr. Hanky look a like, and build a fire only for a panda to pee on it. This is as crazy as a game gets in the App Store, and it’s worth the minimum price on that feat alone.
The game is wonderfully designed with outstanding, and varied artwork throughout all of the games. The artwork is just as crazy as the game, and so is the action packed sound track with goofy sound effects. Every aspect of the game further enhances the crazy appeal of the game.
There are 33 different mini-games that you can play individually or as part of the crazy test or the more difficult survival mode. There is a considerable amount to do once you get hooked on the micro game concept. OpenFeint is included too with over 40 achievements, high scores, and even challenges which are probably the best aspect. Survival mode doesn't have a high score table though, which is disappointing.
The Bad
The game has a number of problems that take away from the overall fun. There is no pause button so you have to dedicate a period of time to play the game. On top of that it doesn’t save progress on exit so be sure not to get any phone calls or need to exit the app for any reason.
Maybe the most annoying problem is that in the Crazy Test the micro games don’t appear at random so each test provides the same exact games in the same exact order. You will learn how to play the games, and the randomness of the micro-game style is lost.
This version has 33 micro games which get stale really fast since they’re so simple. With five second games it would nice to see more since once you’ve played every game you know exactly what to do so it’s the boring test rather than the crazy test. With more mini-games your kept on your toes never knowing exactly what to do which is the main element of the challenge of the genre.
