Game Reviews

Cameltry

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Cameltry
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Cameltry takes a slice of arcade vintage and paints it, quite literally, with a new brush. This is puzzling with a potent sense of identity. While the alternatives are more immediately palatable, it's an enduring experience that takes the simple idea of guiding a ball through a maze and gives it a offbeat, almost grandiose feel.

Using either the accelerometer or your finger to twist the map around, you have a time limit before which you must get your orb to the exit. Naturally, there are plenty of obstacles to dodge and items to pick up along the way.

The game's real selling point, though, is the setting. While Cameltry appears to be a simple case of maze-mastering on the surface, each level occurs inside a haunted painting. Your bright blue ball wanders comparatively dark, impressionable labyrinths, further preyed upon by an equally stark score.

Controlling that orb does take some getting used to. Taito's take is decidedly floaty, the ball responding with a lack of elasticity. Whether you use your finger or a simple tip of the phone to guide your ball, making delicate moves through narrow winding corridors is rather tricky.

Adjusting to the controls as quickly as possible is key because the pressure is on right from the start. Simply making it to the exit isn't your sole concern. Instead, it's keeping an eye on the clock and making it to the end before time runs out. Indeed, most of the labyrinths on offer are fairly linear, with only one or two offshoots deviating from the pain path.

Distractions abound to tempt you from your path, as well as reparations dotted around to keep a balance. Coins form the staple currency and line most of the routes, adding valuable points to your total, while gems and breakable blocks add vital seconds to the clock.

Likewise, spheres that wipe three or five seconds on contact and time bombs that clear the path but also splinter you into a million pieces can play just as big a part.

It's a system of treats and tricks that have you questioning your strategies: should you head straight for the exit, avoiding any risky routes along the way, or should you seek out those extra seconds to try and score a record time?

Either way, those who fall in love with Cameltry will be those according it the time it deserves, adjusting to its looser controls and growing to love the added challenge that comes with taming this beast.

Greater variety would have been welcome, but this is a game so infused with character that it's a maze worth getting utterly lost in.

Cameltry

Despite its loose controls, Taito's moody re-imagining of its '80s arcade labyrinth is full of charisma and is one of the most atmospheric iPhone titles to date
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Keith Andrew
Keith Andrew
With a fine eye for detail, Keith Andrew is fuelled by strong coffee, Kylie Minogue and the shapely curve of a san serif font. He's also Pocket Gamer's resident football gaming expert and, thanks to his work on PG.biz, monitors the market share of all mobile OSes on a daily basis.