:: WORLDLY DELIGHTS
Rocketcat Games have made a name for themselves in the iOS gaming scene with the popular and critically-acclaimed grappling hook games Hook Champ and Super QuickHook. While they are working on a 99 cent "top-down shooter/RPG" project," their next game returns to the grappling hook concept with Hook Worlds. Unlike Hook Champ and Super QuickHook's adventure levels, Hook Worlds is focused on endless levels, like the Avalanche mode from Super QuickHook. This means that you'll be swinging forward through levels, outrunning hazards chasing you, trying to keep from falling to your doom, while trying to advance as far as possible and collecting coins along the way.
The hook of Hook Worlds is that there will be multiple endless worlds to play through, each featuring a familiar character in the 'Hook' series universe, with their own gameplay twists. The initial launch version will have three worlds to play. The first is Curse of the Watcher, which has you playing as Theodore "Gramps" Hooker from Hook Champ and Super QuickHook, trying to outrun one of the demons (first seen in Hook Champ) and avoid being blasted by the demon's gigantic death laser. To help him, Gramps has the recharging rocket boots that will be familiar to veterans of the series. The other two modes will not feature the rocket boots, but have twists new to the series.
Hook Gunner has you playing as Zelle, who has a forward shooting gun available to take out obstructions and enemies in her way. The gun only features 6 shots, but recharges over a short amount of time. Finally, Cybergnome 202X has you playing as a gnome in a futuristic city, with the ability to switch gravity in midair, similar to Gravity Runner. This means that you can die by falling upwards. There appear to be icons that you can pick up to reverse your gravity in mid-air as well, which could help or be a hindrance towards further advancement. However, these 2 modes also appear to be experimenting with and expanding on the already familiar Hook series gameplay. Interestingly, while unconfirmed, it appears only Hook Gunner mode has coins in it, which could alleviate some of the concerns by Super QuickHook players that the Avalanche and Eruption modes were more focused on coin collection than on survival.
A trailer has been released showing off each mode briefly, with a promised release date of early November. Similar to Super QuickHook, early adopters will get "exclusive bonus content." The game will launch at 99 cents, and the developers have mentioned that additional worlds, and of course new hats for the characters, could be added post-release, as has been done with each of the previous Hook games in the series. Check out the recently released trailer below, and check out Rocketcat Games' Twitter account for new updates, and their blog for concept art and insight into the game's development.
Super QuickHook is a sequel to Hook Champ, which had you playing as an explorer traversing caves with a grappling hook and other powerups collecting riches and trying to stay alive. Super QuickHook largely expands and refines its predecessor's concepts and controls, to the point where the game has become one of the best gaming experiences I have ever had on the iPhone.
But what makes Super QuickHook really shine is its addictive new Avalanche mode, which has you trying to outrun an oncoming avalanche for as long as you can. This new endless mode is similar to Canabalt with over 60 level sections that appear randomly as you play. It behooves you to recognize when you are in a particular section, as coins are always present in the same locations, and you need the points the coins provide if you're trying to set high scores.
