Push Panic for iPad and iPhone – Game Review

By Colin | April 12, 2011 | No comment yet

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Action games are popular because of the constant flow of excitement, surprise around every corner, and well… action. Puzzle games are popular to those who enjoy logic and strategy. Push Panic is the best kind of combination of the two genres, featuring numerous game modes that are all challenging in their own ways.

If you’re just starting out, the “Classic Game” option is the best way to strengthen your strategies for removing blocks while simultaneously keeping your score high. As levels fly by, the game starts ramping up the difficulty of clearing blocks. Once users get a bit more experienced and are finally done having fun with the first aspect of the game, they can switch over to a different game mode where the rules of the game have completely changed.

The first of what are called the panic modes is “Score Panic.” This is the game’s marathon mode, in which players try to get the highest score possible with unlimited time. Sounds easy right? Maybe if the blocks didn’t start dropping faster and colors weren’t added right when you thought you had it all figured out.

Next up is “Color Panic,” where the objective is to clear colors fast, because as soon as there are eight of one color, it’s game over. Finally my personal favorite “Time Panic,” which gives players three minutes to score as high as possible, but there is a huge increase in the frequency of special blocks, enabling some truly mind-blowing combos.

Once you’ve beaten your own high score a few times, the social aspect of the game kicks in, showing you just how you stack up against other players across the country. Also, if you’re in the mood to impress your friends, the Twitter feature will allow you to boast your scores to all your followers with a few taps of the screen!

What I liked: The panic modes are all really fun and challenging, but so is the classic game mode. Sometimes games like this one forget about the normal game mode and focus too much on the variants. The controls are exceedingly simple to pick up and the bright colors make you not want to take your eyes off the screen.

What I didn’t like: The music becomes slightly repetitive, but that’s a simple fix with the mute button. Also, occasionally the leaderboard and rankings took longer than usual to load.

To buy or not to buy: Push Panic is simple, but it is challenging and if you’re even slightly competitive, you will love this game. It is easy to get a quick game in when you’re on the move, and it is even easier to get lost in the game for hours on end. I would absolutely buy this game before any extended car or plane ride and every day afterwards.