Ordinarily, it would sound pretty arrogant to suggest that a mere update to a game could quite easily be sold as a full title. When the update in question is for Pocket God however, then it becomes distinctly more plausible.
Since its release over 2 years ago, Pocket God has turned into a hugely successful phenomenon and one that has consistently evolved thanks to its many updates over the years. This time round is arguably the biggest update yet with a game within a game added to the Universal version of the title. That game? It’s called Decapithon and it’s very much like arcade platformers of old.
Much like everything else in Pocket God, Decapithon is easy to access with players simply moving over to the graveyard island and dropping a pygmy into the teleporter. In that teleporter, Pocket God turns into a whole new game but with all the fun and splendour that we’ve come to expect.
Players tilt their iPad to move from left to right along the islands and platforms of each level. It’s not that simple, though, otherwise that’d be dull. A plentiful supply of the undead get in the way of progressing and players must throw axes at them to chop their heads off. In typical Pocket God fashion, it’s still endearingly sweet. Controls are simple to use with tilting left to right moving the pgymy and tapping one of the two buttons to jump. Firing axes is done by tapping in the relevant direction, adding some flexibility to where can be fired at. It’s as simple as that meaning that anyone can join in.
Different enemy types emerge to keep things interesting and there’s even the prospect of boss battles too. While the humble Pygmy Zombie is pretty easy to defeat with a few tosses of the axe, the Moon Witch can throw acid ‘loogies’ and the Big Booga is as fearsome as it sounds. It’s a satisfying experience and excellent fun. The only annoyance I could really pinpoint is that of the tilt controls. I’m no big fan of them admittedly and with the size of the iPad, it would have been convenient to be able to switch to something button based, especially when playing on the move.
Despite that quibble though, Decapithon is just the kind of game that would easily work as a $0.99 title so as a free update for owners of Pocket God, it’s an exceptional addition. It’s been touted as one of the most ambitious updates for the game yet and quite rightly so. Fortunately it’s paid off with style.
Pocket God: Decapithon is available now as a free update for iPad owners of Pocket God or it’s priced at $0.99 for new owners.
