Gibbets 2 review (iOS / Universal)

♫ “I’m hanging on the limb of a tree…”

10 word description: Bow and arrows arcade puzzler / sequel. 50 levels. Game Center.

Shoot the ropes, save the dangling Coldplay fans

10 word review: Improves on the original; addictive with some innovative puzzle elements.

You will like this if you enjoy: The original Gibbets game. Other aim, drag & shoot games; Fragger, etc.

If you don’t shoot the cow, you will be the only person in the universe, ever, who hasn’t

The good news: Very good control method; you can draw the bow back by dragging your finger anywhere on the screen, not just the place where the bow is located. Intro/tutorial levels are helpful without being too simple. Difficulty can be altered at any time without having to restart, or redo earlier levels. Graphics and sounds, while not jaw-dropping, are good and suit the game.

Hang on, this is horrific!

The bad news: Each level must be completed in order to progress; if you get stuck on a level, that’s it until you eventually manage to beat it. Not necessarily “bad news”, but worth mentioning as it may be a negative factor for some players.

Arcadelife verdict: Although it’s a port of a mouse-controlled Flash game (note – the levels are not exactly the same) considerable effort has been applied to making the controls as touch-screen friendly as possible. Unlike the majority of this type of 2D shooting/lobbing games, you don’t have to draw back the bow at the bow’s location. Kind of a relative-touch bow-drawing control system and it works really well, eliminating (almost 100% of the time) issues where your finger leaves the edge of the screen by accident while aiming.

As for the gameplay, it’s nothing new – it is a sequel after all! – but it’s addictive and quite a lot of fun, at least until you hit a level that leaves you stumped for a while, or until you go and look at the solution on YouTube… just be aware that the levels don’t appear to be the same, or maybe just not in the same order, as the ones in the original Flash game.

There’s a free/lite version with quite a few levels if you fancy trying it before you buy.

Arcadelife rating

Visuals – 8/10
Audio – 7.5/10
Controls – 9/10
Content – 8.5/10
Fun – 8/10
Final rating – 82/100

Rating categories explained here.

Version reviewed by Arcadelife is 1.0.0

Herocraft website link

Arcadelife played and reviewed this game on:
4th gen iPod Touch (iOS 5.1.1)
iPad (iOS 5.1.1)