Ready Steady Play Review

Ready Steady Play is somewhat of a sequel to the addictive quick-draw game Ready Steady Bang, starring the same stickman cowboy but this time throwing him headfirst into a series of mini-games.

There are currently 3 games available, with more on the way. The first is a twist on the original game that tasks players with shooting multiple opponents while avoiding innocent bystanders in between reloading their six-shooter. It becomes increasingly more chaotic as time goes on and as keeping track of bullets becomes a necessity.

The second game is an endless runner on horseback where players race across a canyon, over cacti, and onto explosive barrels that act as a launchpad if hit correctly. It's a barebones runner but the fact that the length of time a finger is pressed effects the jump distance means that the terrain can soon make things challenging.

The third is a game of keepy-up in which players must keep coins airborne while shooting other cowboys, preventing them from launching more. Similar to the first mode, players must tap to shoot and swipe the bottom of the screen to reload. It takes some getting used to (on the iPad especially) but soon becomes part of the fun in time.

It would have been nice for the quick-draw duel mini-game to have been included in this one, since it certainly misses the multiplayer aspect of the original, but that's still available to download for only $0.99 separately. Ready Steady Play's monochromatic and minimalist style works in its favor, the smooth animations giving it it's own identity and puts the focus on the casual, compulsive gameplay. The mini-games are great way to pass a few minutes and there are a number of trophies to collect, but the longevity is questionable without the multiplayer mode or sense of level progression from the first game.

While it's light on content at the moment, I'm looking forward to further, more diverse games being added to Ready Steady Play soon.