1968 Review

Our Review by Lee Hamlet on June 17th, 2013

Rating:

:: CHEESED OFF

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1968 has the potential to be a fun little time-waster, if it weren't for the unnecessary difficulty caused by slow gameplay and unpredictable controls.

Developer: ATTRIBITE AB
Price: $0.99
Version: 1.1
App Reviewed on: iPhone 4S

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"In 1968 the USA sent a small car to the moon... and all they found was cheese."

That's the not-so-historically-accurate opening to 1968, a cutesy retro-style casual game that has players navigating around floating moon rocks while collecting triangles of luminous cheese. Once they have obtained all of the floating dairy goodness, they have to get to the American flag as fast as possible to complete the level.

The developers have hit the nail on the head with the cute black and white cartoon visuals and smooth jazz soundtrack, both of which compliment the gameplay perfectly. There's even the mocking "wah, wah, waaah" novelty trumpet sound to accompany a failed attempt. It's a combination that is bound to raise a smile or two from players and have them tapping their feet while playing (jazz hands not recommended).

Unfortunately, the controls are unforgiving, and in a game that is all about maintaining control and speed, this is a real problem. The car can sometimes change direction or brake suddenly, even if the player is clearly holding down a finger on one side of the screen. If the car is flipped upside down, it is sometimes impossible to flip it back over, which triggers an inconvenient auto-restart.

A few levels in and some players will already find the game too difficult, a testament to the fact that temperamental controls can make a game much harder than it needs to be. This may be due to the anti-gravity environmental effects, but it just makes the gameplay feel sluggish. The ability to control the car in mid-air and to flip it easily once it is overturned would be welcome additions to a game that has casual players as its target audience, but fails to provide the ease of play that makes similar games such as Bike Baron such classics.

There are five worlds, five cars and five different flags to unlock, which is a superb amount of content for the asking price. The issues with controls and therefore the difficulty are the only things holding this back from being the great little game it has the potential to be.