Review: Mik-Mak by Rapid Turtle Games

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When I was younger, PacMan was all the craze. And, like most crazes, it inspired a bunch of sequels and knock-offs. Who would have thought, this many years later, that the game would still be hanging around in it’s many forms.

Enter Mik-Mak. Mik-Mak is a variant on the standard type of PacMan game. So how does this pan out? Read on…

Mik-Mak is basically a free form PacMan style, eat-em-up game.  It’s basic premise is that you use the accelerometer, tilting your iPhone/iPod, moving the character to eat the green items, while avoiding eating the red items.  If you eat enough green item, you complete the level.  When you eat a red object, the level is done.

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Along the way there are special power-ups like invisibility, and making everything edible.  There’s even a little guy that comes along to help you by eating the red ones and getting them out of the way.  The music is an interesting jazzy version of “Jingle Bells”.  Nothing in the program description indicates this is a “Christmas” game, but the red/green color scheme and the Christmas music make it seem like one!

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What I liked: The idea is interesting and the power-ups are well executed.

What Needs Improvement: The graphics are a little simplistic and the green/red color scheme is a little drab.  One possible improvement might be use of layers, like in Spore Origins, etc., to improve the overall look of the game.  Additionally, the character appears to be limited to moving in one of 8 directions – and sometimes there’s a slight pause when the character changes directions.   There’s no animation or anything except the level-ending pop-up when the character eats a red object and ends the level.  The overall result is a somewhat unpolished feel that will hopefully improve in subsequent releases.

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Overall: This kind of game is pretty common and while the basic premise is interesting, for the game to have lasting play value it needs a couple of things:  Excellent (and interesting graphics), and exceptional playability.   The graphics of Mik-Mak, are really a little too plain to be called exceptional, and the character movement isn’t as fluid as I think it could be, especially when using the accelerometer as the controller.  Right now, the game is a good start, but isn’t as polished as it could be.

Mik-Mak is only $0.99 and is a brand-new release.  I suspect it will improve over time.  It’s available at the AppStore for $0.99

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About the Author

Christopher Gavula
Chris has been a COBOL programmer, a desktop support technician, network engineer, telecommunications manager, and even a professional musician. Currently, he is focused on deploying Voice over IP technologies in a large, corporate setting. He started working full-time at the tender age of 14, even before there were PCs, and will probably be working and trying to finish “just one more project” as he’s lowered into the grave.