Hamster Cannon review (iOS / Universal)

♫ “It must feel nice to be a heavy metal hamster”

10 word description: Physics based puzzles. Launch hamsters out of cannons. Upgrades. Achievements.

Helmeted hamsters can break through stone walls, but only the first one they encounter

10 word review: Unambiguous title. Fun gameplay, nice graphics, decent controls, unobtrusive IAP.

Everything can be customised, although the majority are just cosmetic changes. The few items that affect gameplay do make a considerable difference

You will like this if you enjoy: The closest iOS game I can think of to this is House of Mice.

Fiery hamsters burn wooden obstructions. The fire spreads to all adjacent wooden objects

The good news: Looks good, plays well, controls work, performance is fine (on 4th gen Touch & iPad), the use of different hamsters to bypass or destroy puzzle elements is fun and results in some nice level design. The unlockable stuff is fun and can easily be obtained by playing the game rather than spending more real money.

Using a battery does this. You collect noms that are within your glowing pink aura, rather than having to directly touch them with the hamster

The bad news: I’ll mention the IAPs, because I always do, but they’re extremely optional due to fairly easy way to amass plenty of game currency by replaying certain levels where it’s easy to get all the coloured “noms” and achieve the 10x multiplier. The batteries (consumables that make collecting noms much easier) are fairly essential once you get through the first page of the first world, making nom-grinding a bit of a requirement.

Arcadelife verdict: Good game, nice mixture of aiming the cannon and tactically selecting which type of hamster to use, although you’re always limited to the ones that the level preselects for you – you can’t choose your own hamster team or anything deeply strategic like that. Overall, it’s fun and has plenty of appeal.

The 10x bonus is quite generous, making the very useful batteries a more than viable option

Arcadelife rating: 88/100

Version reviewed by Arcadelife is 1.0

BBB Arcade Support Page website link

Arcadelife played and reviewed this game on:
4th gen iPod Touch (OS 5.0)
iPad (OS 5.0)