One of the things I enjoy most about being part of the Gear Diary team and whatsoniphone.com is the opportunity to get to know some the developers creating apps for the iPhone. Over-all I have found them to be a really interesting, nice and creative bunch. Best of all, as I have discovered more than once, many are committed to constantly improving their apps and are surprisingly receptive to end-user input. This is certainly the case with the game Cronk.
Cronk is a caveman who needs to save his village from destruction. A parade of boulders is slowly making its way toward the village and only one thing can stop it is… Cronk. When three similarly colored boulders are touching one another they explode, disappear, and reduce the size of the threatening boulder-line. Cronk’s job is simple — throw the colored boulders that appear in his hands into the line to create a chain of three or more like-colored boulders to make them vanish. And do it quickly enough to eliminate the entire line before it reaches the village and destroys it.
If it sounds familiar it is. Cronk is similar to the well known Zuma but has its own unique take.
I was given the opportunity to get to know Cronk a few weeks ago. I like the game. I like the story line behind it. And I like the pace of the game– it is fast enough to keep my interest but slow enough so that I can play without getting so wrapped up in it that I add to life’s stress. (After all, part of casual gaming is having fun and that, for me, means relaxing. If I want to get my endorphins going up play a first person shooter.)
While I liked Cronk a lot I had a few concerns when I first played. First, the price. At $7.99 Cronk was on the pricey side of things. This was compounded by the fact that a similar game, Blackbeard’s Assault, was significantly less. I actually liked Cronk more than Blackbeard which moves more quickly than I like and often has two or three different “cannons” for shooting game-pieces- not something I would choose. In addition, unlike Blackbeard’s Assault, the colors of the boulders in Cronk were close enough that I, as one of the world’s many color-blind men, had an exceptionally difficult time with it.
I was writing a review for WhatsOniPhone and, not wanting to pan an app I actually liked, I emailed the developer and shared my concerns. While I won’t attribute it to my feedback, a recent update of the app lowered the price to $4.99, increased the color contrast to make it easier for folks like me, and added other features as well. Best of all, there are more updates on the way.
Since the update I like Cronk even more and find it to be a great choice for someone interested in a neat casual game for the iPhone or iPod Touch.
Cronk is available HERE in the App Store for $4.99.