Hippo Adventure

Posted by Sarah Reidy on February 7th, 2012

Hippo Adventure, developed by okigames, is a physics-based puzzle game offering 84 progressively more difficult levels. The object is to roll the Hippo (boy or girl, player’s choice) to his or her home by avoiding and or strategically moving obstacles, such as boulders, squares of grass and ice, and wooden blocks. The graphics are beautifully done (currently set to a winter wonderland theme) and it is such a great feeling each time Hippo successfully rolls to his or her warm and cozy-looking mushroom cottage. There is no background music playing and the sound-effects are fairly subtle which is much appreciated, as I find loud and frantic background noise to be distracting and super-annoying!

What can I say…I love Hippo Adventure! It is rare that the kids and I find a game that challenges all three of us, keeps us entertained and delights us, but Hippo Adventure does all three! My son, age seven, was able to beat the first ten or so levels with no problems and my daughter, age ten, was able to breeze through the first twenty, but is stuck on Level 21. The game is challenging enough for older children, teens as well as adults, as it often takes multiple attempts to clear a level. Because the game requires logic, spatial- relations skills as well as the ability to strategize, Hippo Adventure is most appropriate for children ages 6 and up.

While this game gets great reviews from me as well as my kids, there are still a few issues that need to be ironed out to make the gameplay even better. Firstly, each time you clear a level or fail it, the text remains the same, reading, “Level Complete.” This makes it slightly confusing as to whether or not a level has been cleared. The second issue is that it is supposed to be easy to swipe your finger across the screen to cut a string holding a snowball, thereby releasing it. However, it is actually very difficult to perform the swiping action in such a way that the snowball is released. This is frustrating, because timing is essential to being able to clear each level.

If these issues as fixed, Hippo Adventure has the potential to be a really great game for all ages. I am hopeful that an update will address these small glitches and I can’t wait to see what the next season or theme will be, as the graphics are what sets this enchanting app apart from the others.

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