Sneezeman Review

Sneezing kinda stinks. A nasty fit can lead to watery eyes, a horrible mess, and one rather awkward social situation in a hurry. But imagine being a tiny man who’s about 60% nose and sneezes so hard it acts as a propellant. I’d call that a rather unpleasant existence. Although it does make for a reasonably interesting game.

So Sneezeman is the poor creature in question who’s defining characteristic is a permanent case of hay fever. To make matters worse, every time he steps out onto a roof a massive cloud of irritants starts to hunt him down, forcing him to leap across buildings and billboards as he attempts to reach the relative safety of Inside. Along the way players will have to try and nab decongestants and special stars scattered throughout the level while avoiding enemies and some altogether unpleasant looking pollen. Movement arrows can be tapped to guide Sneezeman in a given direction and the Sneeze button will loose a nasal blast with enough force to push the little guy skyward.

Sneezeman is a cute game, all things considered. The premise is weird and unorthodox but it’s also interesting and lends itself to some unique situations. Situations like leaping out of a moving vehicle to avoid airborne pathogens. It also features a fun “sketchy” kind of art style, which is an aesthetic I’ve always been fond of.

After a level or two I began to notice a rather constant issue with Sneezeman’s jump trajectories in that he never loses momentum. This has resulted in several instances where the little guy tumbled off a ledge or completely overshot a platform simply because taking a thumb off of the movement arrows mid-jump won’t slow him down in the slightest. It’s a slight irritation that can be adjusted to, however. A more significant issue is that it’s just kind of a middle-of-the-road platformer. It’s not bad, but it’s not great either. And with so many exceptional iOS releases in the genre, being “okay” might not be good enough for a number of potential players.

As far as endorsed games go (Kleenex in this case), Sneezeman could’ve turned out a lot worse. As it is, it’s cute and inoffensive but lacks any real punch to keep it in any form of direct competition with some of the better-known platformers in the App Store. Of course sometimes a person, especially a person with a miserable cold, needs a little cute.