Shake Out Review

This simple game takes advantage of two of the iPhone's most common features and blends them into an entertaining exercise in fingertip agility and quick reactions. Shake Out is a fast paced game that requires players to use the iPhone's accelerometer and touch screen at the same time, but this isn't just tilting the device and tapping the screen. Players have to vigorously shake their device while moving the thumbs or fingers around quickly and holding down on different spots on the screen.

The unique gameplay in Shake Out is based on clearing the screen of time bombs that count down from ten. When the number displayed on a bomb reaches zero, the bomb explodes. In most modes the exploding bomb ends the game, but in the timed and zen modes players focus more on how many bombs they can clear without worrying about which ones are about to explode. Bombs are cleared from the screen by smashing them with one of five red balls also on the screen. These red balls, and the bombs, are moved around the screen as the device is shaken. However, in order to clear a bomb the player has to tap it and hold it in place as the red balls smash and clear it. When there are several bombs on screen at once, all counting down and all at different places in the countdown, this can become quite challenging.

Shaking the iPhone around to move the red balls around quickly, while trying to pin down ticking time bombs at the same time takes a good amount of concentration. It also looks pretty silly. This probably isn't a game many gamers will want to play while waiting in line or on the train. That said, it's a lot of fun and the various game modes make the simple game much more interesting in the long run. This will be a welcome change for anyone tired of hard to handle touch controls or overly sensitive accelerometer controls, or anyone who just needs to shake things up every now and then.