Swing the Bat iPad Review
Swing the Bat combines Tiny Wings' "beat the sun" objective with Spider-Man 2's swing mechanics, a recipe for success if we ever saw one. Sadly, Chillingo and Deadbug botched this potential gem with unclear objectives and a character better off dead.
The "hero" is a bat that sets off to complete a series of tasks before the sun rises. Achieving these goals, however, takes considerable skill, a bit of luck and some guesswork.
Swinging works, except when the developers force you to navigate through the same bothersome cave and past cheap enemies that literally come out of nowhere and have pinpoint accuracy, from the bamboo stick brandishing panda to the banana throwing monkey.
On top of that, the mission screen is a mess, with playable levels scattered around the board. Surely, the designers could have dreamed up something more casual friendly.
One of the biggest offenses, though, is the bat itself. While donning a graduation cap (because bats crave higher education), it constantly screams "School's out", while putting on a cowboy hat inspires our little friend to go "Yee-haw", or something like that, every few seconds.
The entire experience eventually became so disappointing that we gave up the ghost, so to speak. There could be a good game buried beneath the slop, but after a few hours of mind-numbing boredom and frustration, we just couldn't play anymore.
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later.
What's Hot: Universal support, the rare moment when the swinging comes together.
What's Not: The bat's voice, unclear/annoying objectives, cheap enemies, cluttered mission screen.
2/5
