Review: Jelly Wars
Score:
79%
What happens if you decide to make a mobile version of Worms? By that, I don't mean you simply transpose the code from a platform version to the device, with everything intact (see here), because while you have a perfect copy of the game, it's not been designed with a mobile user in mind. But that's about to change with Jelly Wars.
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What you need is a clean sheet of designer paper to make changes. Changes like having only one hero to control and not a team of four. Reducing the complexity of the weapons and launching methods, having levels that can be quickly scrolled around and understood by the player.
And if you have good legal advice, change it from fighting worms to lumps of jelly.
You've guessed it, Jelly Wars is a rethinking of the "throw stuff around the screen" game. Most people will latch on to the Worms as the inspiration, but there are shades of Scorched Earth in here, and many others.
This is an artillery game, but with many positives. It has been written with mobile in mind - specifically to reduce the options while retaining the strategic options, making it faster to play while out and about, reducing the complexity of the controls, and making it challenging.
One of my initial negative points - that the application forces you to register an account before you start - becomes clear once you actually start playing. Your opponents are not computer controlled, they are other players around the world, online at the same time. Even with this newly released game there's always been someone around for me to play (I wonder if there is an AI that will take over if you've been waiting for a certain amount of time).
Starting a new game, you get paired up with an opponent in a 'best of three' match over the same terrain. You can lob grenades around the screen, bouncing as required, sticky grenades that will stop on the first solid object they touch, and then there's the 'lob yourself around'. Being the only way to move your jelly blob, and it takes up your turn to do so, makes moving around the screen less of an occurrence, but another smart decision you need to make.
So three possible things to do on each turn, each triggered by touching your jelly blob and sliding your finger back for the strength and angle of the shot. You can blow up the terrain, but rather than a mass of earth with indistinct shapes, the terrain is a brick like construction, and each brick is either present or blown to smithereens. Again, staying simple but keeping the core elements of the game.
And I like that the volume control is always in screen in the top right - a nice touch.
Neither is there any perceived lag between your move and your opponent's, partly because, as a turn-based game, there is a natural pause, but also down to the fact that there is a strict time limit to make your one move per turn - miss it and you get automatically skipped.
To go with the smooth multiplayer, there is good news about the gameplay. There are more than enough options when playing on what you could do; a high lob of a grenade, bounce and roll it through the terrain, or go defensive and move out the way. The controls feel almost pixel perfect, and you can make fine adjustments before release. The graphics continue to be smooth as you track the flight path and explosion, just as they are smooth when scrolling and pinch zooming around the screen.
All this makes Jelly Wars fun to play.
Of course to play Jelly Wars at all you need to have internet access, and this knocks a bit off the final score. Much as Reset Generation did many years ago, I would have liked to have seen some sot of basic quest/computer AI mode so you could practice solo matches on your own before going onto PvP combat. And what if I want to play this on a plane, or the London Underground? No can do.
You'll need to balance that against the ongoing score you're building up in the worldwide league tables, and a friends list of people playing (and you can start games with them as well as going for a random player, depending on your mood).
Jelly Wars is well worth a download, and the gameplay and controls make this a smart looking game. It has a great multiplayer angle, but it does feel like they've forgotten the simple player and quick game for local play, which is a shame, but at the same time is obviously a conscious decision on the designer's part. By all means grab this title and enjoy destroying your opponent's jelly, but be aware you'll want a little bit more in the future.
-- Ewan Spence, August 2011.
Reviewed by Ewan Spence at