Oh Hi! Octopi! Review

By , on September 17, 2012


Oh Hi! Octopi!
Download on the AppStore
2 out of 5

PROS

  • A great name accompanied by fun music.

CONS

  • No clear goal when you begin the game.
  • Knowing the goal doesn't change the fact that the controls are imprecise and counter-intuitive.

VERDICT

An interesting enough idea, but bad controls make the player want to say goodbye instead of hi to this octopi.


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A great title will only get you so far. I mean I can't be the only one who read Oh hi! Octopi! and thought “this is going to prove to be interesting”. Sadly with baffling controls and stale yet unique mechanics, this game doesn't have a tentacle to stand on, and with eight spare that is certainly a shame.

Tapping the screen performs more than one function depending on the situation, and it's here where the trouble starts. When you have your move button double as your attack, and this is all handled by where on the screen you touch (to move / attack in that direction), well you can already see disaster unfolding. You never perform the action you mean to, and this goes double for jumping via wildly tapping the right and left side of the screen back and forth.The game is set on a simple stage reminiscent of the platforms of the original Mario Bros game. Hammering on the switch will inflate an octopi onto the stage. The goal is to ram two octopi of the same color together. Hitting an octopi with your hammer will change its color as well as momentarily stun it (so you don't die from touching it). Getting two octopi of the same color to collide is a monumental task thanks to the aforementioned controls, but if you persevere enough to destroy ten pairs, you reach the next wave. It's the same stage, just more octopi.

Add to this that the goal of the game itself is not self evident (you have to go fishing for the manual to make sense of it all), and you're left with a broken experience that while an interesting take on a match three game (or match two in this case), just isn't enjoyable beyond its amusing name.

Screenshots

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