Super Tiny Leap. What can I say about this game that will accurately reflect how I feel about it, while at the same time trying to remain somewhat objective? I guess I'll have to take a moment and filter my thoughts, lest I write this review through a lens of unbridled rage.

I have difficulty trying to differentiate between whether this game is bad or if I'm just a bad player. I mean, the game is pretty simple; it has minimalistic-but-attractive graphics, the background music is a chiptune song that loops, and the only controls have you tapping on the screen to generate little boxes. I think the complexity lies within the perceived simplicity of the game, hearkening back to the arcade games of old. Oh, and another big factor is that I'm just not all that dexterous.

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Super Tiny Leap stars a little jumping robot whose goal is to jump as high as he can, performing wall kicks to get higher and avoiding obstacles in his way. It's like a metaphor for life, in game form! Your job is to tap the screen to give the little guy some crates on which he can bounce to climb higher and avoid certain doom. And that's it.

There are three game modes: Basic, Binary, and Xtrem. And all of these modes are capable of raising one's blood pressure.

Basic gives you a finite number of boxes. As you help the robot climb, you'll come across a bunch of white crates with numbers on them. Collecting these crates nets you with a corresponding number of extra boxes. It's important to place boxes on the screen sparingly, because it's game over once you run out and the robot succumbs to gravity.

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Binary mode gives you two robots to work with, but also gifts you with an unlimited amount of boxes. This mode is especially nerve-shattering because the robots are capable of killing each other upon collision. So not only do you have to make sure they don't fall, but you also have to ensure that they don't run into one another, the result of which is robot confetti.

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Then there's Xtrem mode, which also gives you an infinite supply of boxes. The catch? Your climb will be littered with robot-destroying mines. This would all be fine, given that you can just build up walls of boxes to block off the offending obstacles, but the robot's jump arc leads me to believe it was programmed to be suicidal. With these three horrors combined, I slowly became more irate as I played and eventually hit the rage wall, erupting with obscenities that would make dock workers blush.

I haven't read up on my Alighieri in a while, but I'm sure I remember reading about this game in one of the Cantos describing the Fifth Circle of Hell. The final insult lies in the fact that the free version is little more than a demo that only lets you play Basic mode and gives you ten lives daily. But for $0.99, you can unlock the full version and experience a unique brand of fury and frustration.

 

App Store Link: Super Tiny Leap for iPhone | By Game Atelier | Price: Free ($0.99 for Full Version) | Version: 1.0.0 | 29.8 MB | Rating 4+

.5 out of 10 arcade sushi rating

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