Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

Avalanche Studios’ very first title out of the game-gate called Just Cause has finally made its way into the consumer’s hands via demo form, which you may have played recently on XBLA or PC. So what did everyone think of this sandbox-styled game? I’m not sure what to think of it just yet, to be honest. It’s almost as if the game isn’t sure what it wants to be either, like an identity crisis of some sort as Richard pointed out. I did admire the graphics with that lush, glowy, soft look and feel complimented by the subtle female chant music that one might hear in a car ad or something. Ok the music needs variation but it was different. The in-air action you’ll experience via skydiving, flying or what have you was fun and it kept the pace of the game going quite nicely. But where were the Ragdoll physics on our vigilant Hispanic hero Rico Rodriguez and NPC’s? It felt like I was working with contrived plastic soldiers throughout the demo. The car physics were quite cumbersome too and it was frustrating just to get them to do what you wanted when headhunting the cartel convoy. The environments were organic, but not the gameplay.

The game also felt quite rushed to be honest, and not just from a development perspective but from the pace of the action. Don’t get me wrong, I like the pace but it was too fast for the objectives. The player has the freedom of
1,225 square miles of mountains, jungles, beaches, cities, villages and an abundance of vehicles but in this demo you don’t have much time to stop and smell the flowers because the next checkpoint anxiously awaits before you have to start over. At least in the demo. I felt that they should have sectioned off a different part of the game to showcase what Just Cause is really all about. Perhaps the full version will have you starting off a bit less confused which a lot of games tend to do. For example, some will hold your hand for the first 5-minutes and then build up to the suspense which allows us to become more accustomed to the environment and gameplay. It took me a good 8-10 times initially to figure out how to kill the first character, that is until I realized that the directional D-pad that nobody ever uses is used to switch weapons. Why not the top left and right buttons? I thought I had to fight bare fisted!

Overall I have mixed feelings about this game. Maybe there’s something I’m missing “just cause” it’s the demo. I will give it a real chance when the full version is released on September 27th. Now, back to a level 50 in Dead Rising.