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If you’ve played Fruit Ninja, you’re no doubt familiar with the tap and slash genre. Here’s something to think about – Fruits do not fight back, how about that? Monster Of Puppets is a fresh new take on the slasher genre, which builds on the success and popularity of the Fruit Ninja type game and takes it to a different level.
Monster of Puppets is a tap-and-slash game where gamers get to use a variety of weapons against the evil puppets to complete the levels a in a pre-stipulated time limit. Sounds familiar, except for the fact that in this game, the puppets fight back. This unique experience makes this game stand out among other titles the same genre.
Monster OF Puppets is set in an amusement park, and users play the role of Charlie the janitor. A UFO cruising above the park causes all the puppets to come alive and that’s where all the action starts. And since the park is closed, with just our man Charlie there, it’s all up to him to stop the puppets before they destroy everything around them. The puppets bounce around the screen so fast that you need to use all your concentration and quick reflexes to stop the invasion. Since its not just fruits you are fighting, you get to choose from a variety of weapons to launch your assault, including brooms, guns and saws.
Gameplay is pretty simple, once you get used to it. You swipe across the puppet to slash it, or tap the screen to shoot it. Headshots give extra bonus points. You can also use other assorted weapons like traps and saws, which need to be strategically placed on the screen, and activated when it has the most number of puppets in the vicinity, to kill all of them together. Keep in mind though, that the puppets fight back, and your health depletes with every hit that you take. Plus you need to avoid slashing or hitting stuff like poison and negative timers which will eat up your balance health or time. Coins that you collect at each level, can be used to make in-app purchases of additional weapons or special tools that can help you rack up your kills and stop the invasion.
Visually, Monster Of Puppets is quite well designed and it is evident from the level of detail that can be seen in the characters, as well as the creepy background score to go with the theme. The game itself is quite engaging, and you can get addicted pretty fast, once you start racking up more and more kills. There is enough variety as well to keep you interested, as every possible Halloween horror related character makes an appearance at some point, much like in a boss battle. There are zombies, werewolves, vampires, even some pumpkins, and takes more than a few slashes or shots to take these down.
Overall, Monster Of Puppets is an intuitive, engaging and easy to play game, which can prove to be addictive. Sure, it does get repetitive after a while, but that can be said of most games in such a genre. The developers have clearly spent a lot of time and effort in getting the design right, down to the last detail, and it is evident from the polished visuals of the characters, and the smooth gameplay. Animations are slick, though some variety in the background score would have been welcome.
Monster of Puppets has been developed by NuOxygen who have also given us other hit games like Racing Legends and Monster Troubles Dark Side. It can be downloaded from the App Store for $0.99, and is compatible with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad, running iOS 5.0 or later.
What’s Good?
- Polished visuals
- Fast & Engaging gameplay
- Plenty of monsters to shoot down
What could be better?
- Variety in background score