Previews

Habbo Hotel tie-in platformer Niko now pinging itself around iPhone and iPad

Don't check out just yet

Habbo Hotel tie-in platformer Niko now pinging itself around iPhone and iPad
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iOS
| Niko

As I pointed out earlier in the week, Habbo Hotel publisher Sulake is trying something different with its new iOS platformer Niko.

Developed by Swedish outfit Fabrication Games, it's both a nice little game in its own right, as well as an opportunity for Habbo users to unlock exclusive badges, trophies and furni within that environment.

Bouncing around

In terms of its gameplay, Niko has you in control of an little alien monkey critter called Niko.

You move him around with left and right buttons on the left hand side of the screen, plus you have the ability to tap on Niko, bringing up an Angry Birds-style trajectory slingshot arc, complete with a dotted flight line.

You use these two mechanics to move around the platforms levels that are clearly inspired by Sonic games. Niko's not so focused on speed, though. In some parts it's actually quite slow and thoughtful as you work out where to fire Niko.

But other elements are super fast as you're fired from bumper to bumper to bumper across the entire level at very high speed - collecting shiny gold items as you go.

As you play more advanced levels, there are more dynamic puzzles in terms avoiding moving platforms and hazards, also pinging yourself from place to place at the right rhythm to get where you need to go.

Niko's not really a puzzle-platform game, though, as the difficulty level to get through each level is fairly low, and while you can lose a life by falling off the platforms, you get plenty of lives and the checkpoints are well organised.

Give me gold

As is now standard with these games, there's three star rating to each level you play, with points awarded in terms of how many gold items you collect. There are also three gold shards hidden on each level that you have to explore and find in order to unlock new levels and rescue your friends.

Out now, Niko is a free-to-play game in that you can play the first six levels for nothing. The remaining 28 levels - spread across three worlds - cost $1.99, €1.59 or £1.49.

You can see how it plays in the following video.

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Jon Jordan
Jon Jordan
A Pocket Gamer co-founder, Jon can turn his hand to anything except hand turning. He is editor-at-large at PG.biz which means he can arrive anywhere in the world, acting like a slightly confused uncle looking for the way out. He likes letters, cameras, imaginary numbers and legumes.