Coin Drop – iPad Game Review

By Colin | April 22, 2011 | No comment yet

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The first thing you see when buying this great kids game is the huge smile on the app icon. A big smiling coin is the perfect way to introduce this colorful, light-hearted, and simple game perfectly built for the youngsters.

If the icon wasn’t enough to convince you, just wait until you start playing. In the coin world, there are good and bad coins. As good coins, it is your job to make sure that all the trouble making bad pennies are found and captured while scoring points along the way. In this Plinko-esque game, the main objectives are during the fall rather than at the bottom, so plan your drops accordingly.

In the first of many worlds, on the first of 60 unique stages, players get a very thorough walkthrough of the controls and gameplay. To start off you can drop as many coins as you want as fast as you want, but be careful because a limit will be put on the total number you can use per stage. While the main goal is capturing the bad pennies players should also try to score as many points as possible to unlock new worlds.

The best and fastest way to get a lot of points is to get a “Coin Frenzy”, which can be achieved by hitting all of the coin collectors that are illuminated at the bottom of the screen. Doing this automatically drops 5 free coins from the top, giving the opportunity to get a Pin Bonus much faster than attempting it manually. The reason for scoring as many points as possible is that each stage has a certain criteria for points, each level giving a certain number of stars. As players collect stars there are new worlds and playable coins that are unlocked (my personal favorite is the Zombie Coin).

Although the game is clearly geared towards children the levels do progress rather quickly in difficulty and the 15 coins you are given each level starts to seem like only 10. That being said none of the levels are going to frustrate the kids to the point of no return, but instead challenge them to learn from their mistakes and move them toward completing the objectives.

What I liked: The ease of play but often challenging stages make this children’s game acceptable for all ages. Also, all of the stages have their own unique challenges and I have yet to find two that look anything alike.

What I didn’t like: The lack of control during the coin’s fall was often frustrating, but that is the challenge after all.

To buy or not to buy: If you have kids that are ready for a new iPad game, then you should definitely spend the $0.99 to keep them occupied.