It's Time To Get Edgy With Unpleasant Horse
Unpleasant Horse (Free) by 4th & Battery is a side-scrolling platformer-like game for your iPhone and iPad involving a rather "unpleasant" horse.
Everyone knows PopCap. They're the company behind family friendly games like Bejewled, Plants vs. Zombies, Peggled, and other titles. However, this game is developed under the name 4th & Battery, which is a subdivision of PopCap where they are able to tryout "edgier" stuff. And boy, is Unpleasant Horse edgy.
You're a horse. Sounds cute, right? There's clouds and other pretty white horses, birds, and other cutesy stuff. Oh, but the bottom is a bunch of meat grinders that will easily grind you up if you fall. But did I mention that you are actually supposed to get the other "pritty" white horses into the meat grinders? Yeah, because you're the little evil, "unpleasant" horse.
The game is fairly simple. You start off on a cloud. You can't stay on the cloud for too long (it'll turn black and have lightning) so you have to bounce from cloud to cloud. There are birds that you can hit that will give you another opportunity to jump with a dropped feather. Each feather you collect counts for another mid-jump. This is good, because some moments you'll need another jump opportunity or you'll end up in the scary meat grinders.
Now, I mentioned white, "pritty" horses. Since you're the unpleasant one, you can actually jump on the back of these white horses and bring them to their meat grinder-y doom down below. Once you latch on to them, they'll fall, but it's also your responsibility to get out of the meat grinders before it's too late! Those things don't play favorites.
The gameplay is simple, but I found myself tapping the screen to jump blindly at times when I am unable to see the edge of a cloud or any other signs of places to jump to. Some times I eventually found myself jumping and falling to my death in the grinders. I'm sure that this is intended to make the game a bit of a challenge, but it can be a bit frustrating.
At the end of each game, you'll be awarded points for how many "pritty" horses you killed, how many birds you got, and how many clouds you land on. The longer you stay on a white pony, the more points you get. Also, you get "style" points, so have fun with it!
There isn't any support for Game Center or Open Feint, so you can't really compare scores locally. Maybe it's something that they can add in the future, or in new 4th & Battery titles.
Unpleasant Horse is fun to play and definitely has that edge that won't suit everyone. The graphics are great and optimized for that beautiful Retina display. Oh, it's also fun to hear that metal music playing as you bring death to other horses...as a horse.
If you're uncomfortable with seeing cute ponies get ground up to their doom, then you may want to skip this game. But if you're up for edgy, then give Unpleasant Horse a try. There's nothing to lose with the free price tag, and it is a universal app.
