Silly Simian- Rasta Monkey Reviewed

There’s no denying that Rastafarianism is a unique religion. While it’s
often found simply amusing by outsiders, Rastafarianism is considered
by many to be no less than who they are. Like many religions or belief
systems, it has been a source of inspiration for much of the Reggae
music scene. Now its inspiration for a lighthearted iPhone/Touch game
known as Rasta Monkey.

Rasta Monkey is an iPhone/Touch action/platformer that follows the swinging traditions set forth by games like Bionic Commando PixelJunk Eden
and attempts to capture humanity’s near-universal love of flight and
anything akin to it. As far as I can tell, the game is a remake of the browser-based game
by the same developer with different levels (only 10 levels, however)
and simplified physics and graphics. (I noticed the end-level marijuana
leaf was removed as well.)

In the iPhone version, the monkey is
no longer rubbery or stretchy and is now a solid figure with sticky
hands and feet. He still swings similarly but now has a stiffness that
makes swinging and leaping less visceral. The levels are designed
competently but a bit too reliant on throwing several tough jumps at
you, often before the next checkpoint flag. This wouldn’t have been so
bad if the jumping didn’t feel a little awkward and cause frequent
deaths. The levels didn’t change much,
visually or gameplay-wise, and my repeated deaths (sometimes due to
framerate hiccoughs) only made things worse. In all fairness, maybe I
just never “got it” but the other aspects of the game didn’t motivate
me to try to improve. I did beat the game however.

The
narration by the older father monkey was fairly amusing and written
in near-incoherent and intentionally-typoed Rastafarian slang. However,
he mostly acted as the tutorial and then proceeded to repeatly demand
various
types of fruit for “special” milkshakes. You are expected to collect a
certain amount of each fruit as you make you way through each level.
Rarely did I have to look or go too far out of my way for them. It was
laid-back, sure, but not very challenging. It also left no real reason
for replay.

The graphics are cute and colorful but have an ugly dulled and speckled
look that is often seen on low-quality or overly resampled jpeg images.
The music was catchy but much too repetitive.

I applaud the
developer, Nitako, for trying something new and not just copying
another “swinging game.”  Unfortunately, I found myself wanting to put
my time elsewhere. They may have been better off adhearing more
strictly to the original version. My best advice is to try the browser
game. If you enjoy it enough to pay $1.99 USD for a mobile version with
more (?) levels and simplified physics and graphics, then by all means
do so. Rasta Monkey is competent in every way but never quite
steps beyond that, offering moderate fun and no replay value.