Pollen Count HD Review

The huge success of Flight Control has a lot to answer for. Fortunately if it's titles like Pollen Count HD, that's not really a bad thing.

Instead of navigating aircraft to the relevant landing pad, Pollen Count is all about sending bees towards flowers before returning to the hive, all via the simplicity of drawing a line. Much like Flight Control, it's far from that simple. Bees must not collide with each other and there are an ever growing number of them the longer the game lasts. Not everyone likes bees either with a flurry of birds, spiders and the humorously titled and very infectious Zombees all getting in the way.

Each bee is different too with the likes of workers, drones, bumbles and queen bees all reacting differently. Some move faster than others while others collect pollen at a speedier rate. Each of these variables needs to be taken into consideration. Power ups can also be collected to mix up the action nicely. 24 levels in all are offered for the campaign mode, each gradually introducing increasingly challenging elements. This ensures however that Pollen Count HD has a smooth learning curve so players are never thrown into the deep end too much. Instead it's an extremely easy game to get into and the regular reminder of the online leaderboards just helps to encourage players to aim higher.

Multiple game modes are also offered with the likes of survival mode and a Zombees mode. Best of all is the co-op mode which works pretty well on the iPad screen assuming that the player is good at communicating with their partner of course! Competitive modes are also available with a series of scenarios arranged for such an occasion. None of the multiplayer stages feel squashed by any means and suit the iPad screen space perfectly. There's even a special 999mph Extra game to unlock although I didn't manage to do so.

Pollen Count HD is an addictive little package. It might have much in common with Flight Control but it's also its own game. The single player mode is acutely designed to ensure plenty of fun and the multiplayer functionality is the icing on the cake.