Catcha Catcha Aliens After You Maka Make It Through The Intro [Review]

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Gotta catch 'em all
Gotta catch 'em all

Catcha Catcha Aliens calls itself “a mission-based catching game”, which in English means it’s an infinite runner in the style of Temple Run. With a bit of a twist, some great music, and celebrity voiceovers. What’s not to like?

The celebs doing the voice work are none other than Brit superstars Stephen Fry and Jonathan Ross. Good chums in actual real life, if an episode of Fry’s TV gadget show is to be believed. And here they are acting together to spice up your game.

While I admire both for almost everything they do, the intro to this game is very tedious, simply because it takes too long. You can skip it, and I suggest you do. Otherwise, you have to sit through an age of scene-setting from Mr Fry, and even more initial-level instruction from Mr Ross. They’re lovely, both, but compare with most popular games: usually, you can expect to start playing just seconds after hitting a game’s icon. Here, you’re still being lectured more than three minutes later. I timed it.

Yes but there’s so much to explain…

Grown-ups can put up with it, but this is a game aimed at kids, who are accustomed to picking up a game and playing it immediately. If there’s any learning to be done, they want to learn as they go, not before they start.

OK, rant over. What’s Catcha Catcha like once you’re playing it? Like a lot of running games, it involves steering, turning corners, jumping and ducking obstacles, that sort of thing. You’re running through alien environments, chasing aliens. Most are unwanted, and you earn cash for catching them in a net. The catching is automatic, you just have to get close enough. Some aliens are good guys and should be avoided if you want to win.

That’s the essentials. Survive as long as you can, keep your wits about you, enjoy the ride. As you earn more in-game currency, upgrade your game with better nets, power-ups, character costumes (some of these are quite fun) and gadgets. Needless to say, you can buy in-game currency with real currency via in-app purchase.

Finally! Playing! Yay!

Once you’ve got past the overlong intro, it’s quite fun. The environments are quite varied, but the music is excellent. Specially composed for the game, it’s fast-paced and sets the tone perfectly.

You don’t need to have celebrity voiceovers when you make a game for iOS, but having them certainly helps your app stand out in the crowd. For my money, Fry and Ross did their job just fine, but the makers of the game could perhaps have made better use of their talents.

I don’t think it will hold an adult’s attention for long, but my 10-year-old was thoroughly engrossed in this game. He nearly didn’t make it through the intro, though. After about a minute, he looked up, out the window, and asked for a snack while Stephen Fry’s voice chattered along in his hands.

Source: App Store

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