Granny in Paradise

If a real paradise for grannies did exist it would feature Daniel O' Donnell concerts, bake sales and bingo marathons (among other clichés).

What it probably wouldn't involve is perilous missions to save stray cats requiring the old dears to climb ladders, elude dangerous assailants and use overgrown exotic flowers as pan dimensional portals for getting about.

Or maybe it would - us young-uns are so out of touch with the elderly these days.

At any rate, the paradise portrayed in Granny in Paradise is anything but conventional, even though its underlying gameplay - this is the mobile version of Sandlot's popular PC casual game of the same name - is itself a rehash of one of the oldest formulas in gaming's history, Lode Runner.

But back to the present.

You play an old lady called Super Granny who has had her cats abducted by the nefarious Dr Meow when she is on holiday (what are the chances!). Of course, being a granny of exceptional superness, Super Granny is not about to stand for this and so sets about reclaiming her feline chums.

Essentially the game is a platform puzzler where you have a given number of cats to collect while avoiding Dr Meow's goon, the sinister masked villain, called the Tikiman, who pummels Super Granny senseless if you allow him to catch up with her. You can avoid the Tikiman by digging holes for him to fall into (like in Lode Runner) and when he's incapacitated you can walk over his head to lead the cats to the exit and safety.

To move Super Granny, you simply have to press left or right on the thumbstick, or '4' and '6' respectively. Pressing up or '2' allows you to climb ladders or vines and the centre point on the thumbstick or '5' digs a hole.

There are various power-ups around the levels that aid you in your quest. For example, watering cans help you to grow vines that you can climb and umbrellas allow you to float gracefully down to platforms that otherwise would be out of reach. There are also flowers to collect that don't actually affect the game besides boosting your end of level score. You're given these after you exit each stage by climbing inside a large flower once all the cats in the level have been saved.

It's textbook stuff really and, as a port from a highly successful PC casual game, is hard to fault. The quirky theme is carried off with charm and the visuals are bright, clear and reasonably well animated. The addition of power-ups to the formula does indicate effort and, unlike some other more lazily repackaged mobile games, Granny in Paradise is a passable variant rather than a tawdry re-tread.

Even so, given that the basic gameplay mechanic is nigh on 30 years old, the game can get a little repetitive after a time and the absence of a level editor (as featured in the new PC versions) or any mini-games to break up the flow is noticeably felt after the first ten stages.

But don't let this put you off. Granny in Paradise isn't exactly a tour-de-force, but it isn't half bad either so if you are a Lode Runner fan looking for another spin on your retro game of choice, or a Granny PC player after a portable version of your online fave, then Granny in Paradise mobile should fit the bill nicely.

Granny in Paradise

It's not going to shake up the mobile gaming world but Granny in Paradise provides a simple but effective spin on a tried and tested idea
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