Stickman Rocks Review

I'd like to say that my rock climbing experience is indicative of the opening scene in Mission Impossible 2, but the truth is, I've only been rock climbing once and it consisted of scaling over a faux-boulder to grab what looked to be an unused scratch-off lottery ticket during a family trip to Disneyworld. Not only was the ticket used, I pulled a muscle in my clavicle. True story.

Speaking of stories, Stickman Rocks has none. It has no background story and no story at all. Therefore, one can only reasonably assume that Stickman is on his yearly sabbatical from Hangman and, due to his brain (providing he has one) constantly being deprived of vital oxygen and nutrients essential to common sense, via a hangman's noose, chose to go rock climbing in a highly precarious locale. From the looks of the rock formations (texturing, layers, etc.), plants/flowers species and species of birds, flying bunnies and parachuting penguins, I would have to say Stickman is in Eastern Tibet. Boy, did he choose the wrong location for rock climbing.

Stickman Rocks is a vertical climbing endurance challenge, wherein players must guide Stickman, while collecting stars and avoiding a bevy of obstacles and enemies, to climb as high as they can, toward the mountain's summit. Don't let the cute sound effects and cartoon graphics fool you: While the game starts off easy, it quickly becomes challenging. So much so, it contains two modes of play: Iron-Man Play mode, where the higher you go the tougher it gets and Infinite Kid Play mode (my personal favorite), which allows players to clumsily climb with no consequences, i.e. you never die.

Stickman is controlled by simply tilting the iDevice left and right, collecting as many 1-point stars as you can. While that's easy enough, the challenge starts when you begin navigating him through the mountainous minefield of deadly enemies/obstacles, which present themselves progressively as players climb higher. To thwart enemies, such as those found on the mountain's ledges salivating over the idea of eating Stickman whole, players simply tap them to temporarily stun them which, in turn, will produce a 5-point star. Others will fly over/ahead of Stickman, trying to drop things such as fish and carrots on you.

Once and again, branches will appear that players can use to launch Stickman upwards. While launching, Stickman is invincible and can't be harmed.

As mentioned earlier, aside from reaching the elusive summit, players must collect stars. Collecting 100 will earn an extra life, but, as with all games, once you run out of lives, it's game over. High scores are saved locally, as there is no online integration.

Stickman Rocks is a fun, cute and charming casual game which contains just the right amount of elemental game play to make players come back for more. At only $0.99, it's a value for both adults and kids.