Full Review

As freemium games become more and more popular as a monetary system for apps, the focus of a review no longer rests on whether or not a game is worth a player's money, but more along the lines of is it fun enough to pay to unlock additional content, and are there others ways to progress in game. Slam Dunk King is a high score arcade game based on swiping controls. It's more than a little reminiscent of Fruit Ninja in how a simple idea can be both a joy to play and addictive.

The game starts with time attack mode. You have ninety seconds to score as many slam dunks as possible, maximizing your score by performing tricks. Once a ball is touched, it follows your fingers along the screen into the hoop, but by rebounding the ball off the back board, circling it around in a windmill, or holding onto the rim after dunking, not only is a greater score rewarded, but a trick combo sets into motion sending that score even higher. Additional tricks are revealed after the game is over, but experimenting during play can yield most, if not all of the ways to dunk on offer.

While the balls are being dunked, bombs also get thrown into the mix. These need to be swatted away or else points and time is lost. The player you select is also important (only one being available from the get go and the rest having to be purchased in the store). As dunking goes on, a special meter is filled in the top right of the screen, which can be activated for a special power. Copernicus' power is to award points for swatting bombs, with all of the other players having powers even more useful such as doubling the points of every dunked ball. The store also has arenas, balls and the ability to remove the in game ads available for purchase.

The game sports a stylized cartoon look that has a bit of a street art edge to it. The music is very beat driven and helps gameplay, but the song that plays during the menu screen gets old pretty fast. Slam Dunk King is a fun arcade experience. Even if you decide not to touch any of the additional unlocked content, this is worth a download.

App Store Info