Bungee Turtle is a pretty generic 2-D platformer for mobile devices (reviewed on iPad here).  You can move left or right, double jump, throw rocks at enemies or hide in your shell.  But the big gimmick in this game is that at certain points, you can jump onto a track that’ll activate a bungee cord, and then you can move left and right and bob up and down on your line, collecting fruit and coins and avoiding enemies and obstacles.

You’ll use the touch screen’s virtual buttons to move left and right, jump, and fire rocks and hide in your shell.  Hiding in your shell acts as a defensive maneuver and you’ll take less damage.  If you get hit, your shell will change color and if you get hit too many times, it’ll break and you’ll just stand there naked and must start the level over again.  Scattered about the levels are tons of fruit and coins.  Gather fruit for points and use the coins in the shop to buy new shells, which I think are purely for cosmetic purposes.

Aside from just being rather generic, the other main problem with this game are the ads!  There’s an ad banner at all times at the bottom of the screen, and you have to view an ad after every level.  Most of the time, it’ll even take you to the app store and you have to close that out to keep playing!  At the beginning of the game, you even choose whether you want relevant ads, non-relevant, or ads for kids under 12!  Now, I don’t play THAT many mobile games, but I’ve reviewed enough to know this is the most ads I’ve had to view in a game.  I think this game is more ad than game!  You can purchase the game and not have ads, but it doesn’t stand out enough to warrant a purchase, I think.

Kid Factor:

You can throw rocks out of your mouth at enemies, and when they get hit, they just fly away.  When you get hit, your shell changes color and can break off, and you just stand there naked.  So violence is fairly minimal.  Reading skill is helpful for some of the text, and parental supervision is highly recommended for the in-game purchases and all the ads!

Tags: Game Reviews