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

The Rocket Knight series of action games on Sega Genesis/Megadrive and Super NES in the mid 1990s were not astoundingly popular, but they were excellent games. These were sidescrolling platformers with some swordplay and some shooting, mixed with some forced scrolling shooter levels where opossum hero Sparkster ignited his jetpack and sailed through the skies, shooting at various exploding baddies.

The announcement of a modern sequel to the game, a 2.5D affair with the same style as the originals but all the bells and whistles we expect of our PSN/XBLA games was pretty exciting, and I responded to it by immediately reconnecting my Sega Genesis and playing my copy of Rocket Knight. These games hold up well today in terms of their challenging gameplay, but let’s be honest: playing those RF-connected systems on your big-screen TV will uh… show the limitations of the source device.

This new episode has Sparkster coming out of retirement when he spots an incoming assault by his old enemies. He triumphantly straps on his armor and jetpack and sails out of his home… then lands and starts running and swiping at enemies. OK, so maybe the concept didn’t make that much sense to begin with, but it’s certainly fun, and it effectively captures the mechanics, style, and most importantly the feel of the original game. The demo consists of a running and slashing stage, then a flying and shooting stage, then a simple boss fight against returning rival Axel.

The demo portion of the game showed some dramatic improvements over earlier gameplay video I had seen, where Sparkster’s movements looked really awkward. Everything looks good now, which is a big relief. I’m pretty excited about what the rest of the game is going to be like. I’ll be holding out for the PSN version, which is expected next week. The game’s out on 360 and Steam for Windows right now for an intimidating $15.