SuperRope is an odd little offering that I’ve spent far too much time thinking about. On one hand, it fufills many of the requirements for a decent iThingie game: it’s free, has a tolerable learning curve, adorable graphics and addictive gameplay. On the other hand, the microtransaction scheme in this game is also deeply, deeply aggravating.
SuperRope is an odd little offering that I’ve spent far too much time thinking about. On one hand, it fufills many of the requirements for a decent iThingie game: it’s free, has a tolerable learning curve, adorable graphics and addictive gameplay. On the other hand, the microtransaction scheme in this game is also deeply, deeply aggravating.
Before we move on to the unpleasant aspects, let’s take a look at what works in SuperRope. For one, it’s cute. The game opens with a protagonist already pre-selected, an adventurous-looking pig. There’s not much to be done here as only one character and world are available for free. After pressing start, you’ll then be sent into the game proper.
An endless vertical jumping game, SuperRope will have you flinging yourself from left to right with a swipe of your finger. If you reach the end of the rope you’ll automatically fall down, so you’ll need to jump before that happens. Along the way you’ll run into a variety of power-ups and a menagerie of currency. There are things like the propeller cap which will allow you to fly freely upwards without fear of falling and the magnet which automatically draws money to your person. Enemies also abound in the game, though so far I’ve only encountered a somewhat insidious-looking collection of octopi, all of which look a little too pleased at your appearance.
However, that’s not the main thing I liked. In SuperRope, what I enjoyed most was the constant panoply of traps. From anvils to pianos, things will keep falling on you. The first time my character got hit on the head, I laughed out loud.
Multiple difficulty levels allow players to customize the experience based on their expertise, which is something I felt was a nice touch. Reminiscent of Flash games, the graphics are cartoony and visually pleasing, though not quite as polished as some other titles. Not groundbreaking, but pleasant enough for an iPhone app,
SuperRope would have achieved a far higher rating from me were it not for various things. For one, there was substantial lag in the initial screens, something that may or may not be attributed to the fact that I own an older iPhone model. This problem, nonetheless, is somewhat consequential.
The biggest beef that I have with SuperRope is the fact that the store is expensive. 1000 stars for, well, pretty much everything is close to the edge of highway robbery. I understand that developers require money to finance their companies, but it feels a little bit too blatant. You can earn the stars in game, but to get to 1000 to unlock just your first item would take an incredible time commitment. I would have appreciated at least one or two more items granted for free or, perhaps, a better distribution of prices.
Nonetheless, the core concept behind SuperRope wasn’t too bad. Being a free game, we still recommend that people take a look at this time-waster.
