Not too long ago we reviewed Digital Poke"s The Drop Out, and we were pretty impressed by it. But the game recently received a major update, and it"s worth taking a look at what the update has to offer.
Let"s start with the obvious: The Drop Out is now Drop Out Adventures, complete with a new icon and a graphical overhaul. The graphical changes are subtle enough that you probably won"t notice them if you"ve played the game before, but that"s not really meant as criticism. We thought they were sharp and colorful enough to begin with so it"s not that big of a deal.
New levels and gameplay aside (we"ll get to those in a minute, don"t worry), the most dramatic change is probably the introduction of in-app purchases. You can now buy skip level coins, which you can use to, well, skip levels. Now, we know that some people find IAP down right offensive, but it"s unintrusive enough here, and if you end up on a level you just can"t beat, it"s a good way to keep playing. You also get 25 coins free, so if you"ll be covered the first few times you do get in trouble.
Digital Poke is following in the footsteps of Rovio and Zeptolab by offering free content updates for everyone, which is pretty awesome. This time we"ve got a whole new set of levels in the form of the Science Lab episode, with a promise that more are on the way.
Teleporters seem like the most interesting new element. If you"ve ever played Cut the Rope, these should seem pretty familiar: like Cut the Rope"s magic hats, the teleporters are color coded, so entering a blue one at the bottom of the screen could send you flying out of a blue one from the top. Combined with spikes, teleporters make you rethink all of your strategies and really set the Science Lab apart from the rest of the game.
So, what can we say? The gameplay is different, but it"s nothing that radical. And that"s not a bad thing to be, since The Drop Out – err, Drop Out Adventures – was a lot of fun to begin with, and we"re perfectly happy to get to experience more of that with a few new challenges to boot.
Our previous review already gave a great rating, and we don"t think there"s much reason to change that. If you"re a fan of addictive, pick up and play games, you"ve really got no excuse not to go and pick this one up, especially since you can grab a copy for only 99¢ (sorry, Droids - iOS only). We can"t wait to see what the next update will bring!
Image via App Store