Die, Try and Die again
Red Game Without A Great Name is a 2D Steampunk inspired arcade game developed by iFun4all in which you help a mechanical postal bird navigate its way through various deadly obstacles to deliver its mail safely. Built with the ability to teleport you must click and drag where you want to bird to move, trying to evade razor sharp barbed wire, jagged spikes and super sharp saw blades. With the screen moving independently and at a quicker pace than the bird can fly, players have to think fast. It’s fun, challenging and surprisingly addicting.
Red Game Without A Great Name is pretty pleasing to play; it runs smoothly, the mechanics are easy to grasp and it has a fun but brutal learning curve. With sixty levels it will definitely keep you busy. The game flows so easily you’ll easily find yourself completing the first ten levels in one sweep, until you get to the more challenging levels. Attempting risky moves, collecting deviously placed items and keeping perspective with screen rotation levels – Red Game sets a fiendish challenge, just be prepared to die lots of times.
Although multiple deaths are inevitable, Red Game is surprisingly not that aggravating to play. There are a number of small details that make Red Game a real pleasure to play with the non-existent loading times and quick response. It flows well and satisfies enough to keep you playing. In particular, when you decide to take a break and exit to the menu there is an animated progression screen with little footprints walking from houses labelled with each level number, a display of your successful spree – it’s a nice touch.
The level design is visually interesting and stylistic, rooted in steam punk and steeped in red and black. There is a charming short opening animation in the style of silhouetted shadow puppets where you see the bird being built and then taking off into the sky. It’s a striking and unique trait of Red Game that I would of liked to see more of. The soundtrack is catchy and upbeat with the title menu tune being particularly memorable so much so that there are comments on the game’s trailer video asking for a link to the full song.
The transition from iOS to PC brings a small problem. With the PC version, it is more difficult to move the bird as quickly as the game demands because of the clicking and dragging. With the iOS version, teleporting the bird is easy; several fast swipes will allow the player to pull off complex manoeuvres. This feature will inevitably make Red Game on the PC more challenging.
Don’t let the name throw you off; Red Game Without A Great Name is fun and satisfying to play. The mechanics are simple to grasp and coupled with great visuals and soundtrack its keeps you playing – if not for those reasons then definitely to listen to that menu song…on repeat…forever. Its available to buy on PC via steam and also available on iOS devices.
