Review Updated: Cannon Cadets...2.0!
October 26, 2010
I was once told that in design, you are never finished. This means that no matter how great you think your invention/product/structure is, it can always be better. Game design is no exception to this rule, although sometimes further design gets farther away from perfection than closer (I'm talking to you Command and Conquer... 4!)
A few months ago, Cannon Cadets blasted into the App Store hoping to be, at least, Angry Bird's little sibling. Unfortunately, the end result fell well short of this goal. The game play was choppy, the concept was unoriginal, and the price was twice that of Angry Birds, one of the best selling iPhone games of all-time.
Instead of shying away from the poor reviews both in the Internets and within the App Store, XMG Studios went back to the drawing board. This is highly commendable as they took much of the criticism from my review and and those of others. They thought about how they could overcome those challenges and make them strengths. The result of this process is version 2.0 (Now it is 2.1.1) and almost all of the negative points of those who tried the early version were at least acknowledged. Gone are the distracting bathroom sounds and choppy game play, and in is a streamlined new scoring system, iPad support, retina graphics and... a 99 cent price tag.
But they didn't stop there. To really take Cannon Cadets to the next level and differentiate themselves from Angry Birds, XMG Studios added a level builder feature. Not only does this let you release your creative brilliance, it vastly increases the re-playability. This Feature Builder actually works rather smoothly and after your masterpiece is completed, you can you can either play it or upload it for other users who have signed up for the Cannon Cadets Academy. You can also play other users levels as well and they tell me there is already over 700 user created levels to choose from. You can build your level in any of the 4 worlds and use any of the materials or aliens you see in the actual game. The limit really is the extent of your own imagination.
Cannon Cadets still will not replace Angry Birds for many, but these updates really are game changing. I encourage anyone who either enjoys Angry Birds or was turned off by the first round of Cadets to give this game a second look. It is now worth the price and don't be surprised if this isn't the last you hear about our space bound friends.
