Appletell reviews Santa Wings for iPhone, iPod touch
by at December 24, 2008 5:57 pm
Sections: Features, iPhone, iPhone OS, SDK and hacks, iPhone/iPod touch/iPad, iPod, iPod touch, Reviews
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Santa Wings is not a game. You have to understand that right away, or you’ll be sorely disappointed in this app. I’ve labeled it a flight sim above, but it’s really not that, either. It’s entertainment, I suppose for a few minutes. That’s it. You’ll install it, mess with it for a bit, and be done with it forever (or until next Christmas). Unless, of course, someone wants to see a “pretty cool app” on your iPhone or iPod touch. Or you want to pacify your kids for a few minutes.
So, what do you do with Santa Wings? You tilt your phone. That’s pretty much it. You’re Santa Claus, you see, and you have his point-of-view as he flies his sleigh around the North Pole. There’s a team of reindeer ahead of you, but only five are on the job this time. Perhaps it’s just a training exercise. Rudolph is at the lead, though, and you can tap him to light his nose. The animation of the reindeer is very good, though, as they bob before you as if actually run…uh, flying. Even better, the ground and sky are gorgeously rendered. The moonscape is very nice, giving the app a calming, cinematic feel, accentuated by the pleasant holiday music (which you can choose to turn off).
You fly through this landscape by tilting the phone left and right to turn, towards you to pull up, and away to dive. It feels like flying, or at least arcade flying, and is kind of cool for a while. But since there’s nothing else to do, you have to be entertained by hugging the show covered peaks and diving down towards the snowy fields, rivers and lakes.
The flying does get a bit more complex. You can play in float mode, which makes things very simple, or you can try fly mode, in which you can pull off barrel rolls and such. Even with these features, it still doesn’t amount to much more than flying for flying’s sake. Unless, of course, you want to find the “North Pole.”
Hidden somewhere in the available landscape is a pole. You know the one; red and white stripes, snow on top, sign on it that reads “North Pole.” It’s out there somewhere, and searching for it will give you a mission of sorts, even if it’s not one that’ll hold your attention for long. There’s no compass or radar on your sleigh, so you’ve got nothing but the moon to let you know where you’re heading. As a result, finding the north pole is pretty random, although I won’t deny the satisfaction you’ll feel after you finally get there.
Unfortunately, because of its lack of features, Santa Wings never becomes anything more than a Christmas novelty. When I sat down to show it to my five-year-old daughter, I wasn’t ten seconds into the game before she asked, “How do you drop presents?” That’s not what Santa Wings is about, but it should be. At the least, it should have some sort of obstacle course for you to fly through. Something, anything, to make you want to play it for more than two minutes at a time. Because the graphics are fantastic, and the animation is cute. The whole thing is very well developed, but that’s not enough to justify the $1.99 price tag, unless you feel that’s worth it for showing off your phone’s graphics capabilities, and for spreading some light holiday cheer.
Appletell Rating:
Buy Santa Wings
[Note: If you're interested in the flight aspects of the game but don't care for the holiday theme, Wings 2 is available for the same price and offers a wider variety of landscapes. No Rudolph, though.]
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