Imps in Tokyo Review

Developer: We Are Vigilantes
Price: $1.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0
App Reviewed on: iPhone 5

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Overall Rating:

Imps in Tokyo is a line-drawing game with a really neat aesthetic and overall charming presentation. Although it isn't the most complicated experience, it provides a decent level of challenge and a story that is interesting enough to drive along the action.

As a line-drawing game, Imps in Tokyo's control scheme feels a little like playing Flight Control-though here players are controlling flying imps as they try to catch dreams and fight off evil pirhanas rather than trying to land airplanes. This is done by dragging a finger across the screen, which causes an imp to follow in that direction.

It may not sound like the most exciting thing to do, but the level design in Imps in Tokyo is clever enough to keep this simple concept pretty fresh. For instance, catching dreams follows a sequence where catching all dreams in a particular sequence allows players to get a higher score. On top of this, Imps in Tokyo is narratively and aesthetically crazy in all the right ways. All of the art looks great, and it's all depicting imps flying over a purple-hued Tokyo skyline. If that sounds awesome, that's because it is.

To even further vary the experienceImps in Tokyo features a pretty wide cast of characters, all of which have their own share of special abilities including things like having a stream of fire following one imp (because of his explosive farts). The story mode also does a good job of contextualizing reasons for players to use different members of the cast depending on the situation, which helps keep players from finding and settling on whatever character they deem the best for their playstyle.

The only real problem with Imps in Tokyo is that the gameplay feels a bit mediocre when compared to the creative premise, art, storytelling, and other trappings surrounding it. Underneath all of its cool coats of paintit's very much a pretty standard line-drawing game, which unfortunately means it also suffers from sometimes being difficult to navigate as players have to keep a finger on the screen at all times, which obscures the action.

That being said, the things surrounding the core gameplay of Imps in Tokyo isarecompelling enough to make it worth checking out. This is a cool and stylish little game that's capable of winning over just about anyone that isn't completely opposed to line-drawing mechanics.