Hit, Hit, Hit! Is Stupidly Hard, Will You Take The Challenge?
Hit, Hit, Hit! ($0.99) by algoritmico is an fast-paced retro arcade game where you must quickly determine the pre-existing trajectory of little two-dimensional balls so you can get them through tiny gaps along the borders of the screen. This game was probably so named because it makes you want to hit, hit, hit! your head against a wall in frustration.
The object of the game is to flick the balls off the screen without hitting the bumpers that surround the borders. Balls appear on screen, already in motion and the precision of your flick, or push to be more accurate, is determined by how fast, and in what direction the ball is rolling. If you want to make a ball take a sharp left turn, chances are you’ll miss.
The bumpers that surround the borders move as well, making it even harder to get the ball to roll off screen within the tiny gaps between them. They slide from side-to-side, creating new openings in the corners while closing holes at the center edges of the screen.
Once a ball is hit, it can’t touch any of the bumpers or you’ll lose a life. You’ll also lose a life or get a “skip” if the ball expires, meaning if it remains untouched for more than three seconds, or if the ball leaves the screen without being touched first.
Challenging games are fun. They keep you engaged and create a strong desire to accomplish the difficult goal. However, this game is stupidly hard. There is no learning curve. Players don’t get a chance to figure out the best way to push the balls off of the screen. It is like going from zero to 60 in “none” seconds.
There are no levels. Players are thrown into the game with no time to prepare or learn the ropes. There is no gradual increase in difficulty. It would be so much better if the developers offered different levels of difficulty, or multiple levels with wider gaps and slower balls so that players could work up to the more challenging stuff. Instead, you are left frustrated and irritated that you can’t play the game for more than 10 seconds before it’s over.
If this were just a little bit easier to play, it would be an awesome game to challenge your reaction time. However, at this degree of difficulty right from the start, I found it so hard to play that I just wanted to stop. It is possible that I am just a clumsy, slow-moving oaf that can’t play the game because I have the reflexes of a drunk 5-year-old. Since the game is only $0.99, try it for yourself and let me know if I am justified, or if I’m all-thumbs.
