Casual games. They come in all forms and shapes. Believe it or not, there can always be a huge invention or idea behind a “casual”. Or it can be just luck. Sometimes it’s a matter of timing. Anyway, casual games depict most of the times the expression of long, restless days of work, with a simple yet interesting purpose in hitting that soft spot that keeps you coming back to it and craving more.
Name: Airbag Frank 3D | Developer: drahtwerk | Genre: Casual | Players: 1 | Version: 1.0 | Size: 18 MB | Price: Free & $2.45
And that is precisely the case of Airbag Frank 3D. A game that bears so many things that it usually takes a lot of perspective and dedication to perceive them all. And what’s the main factor behind it’s non-repetitive scheme: Luck. pure and dirty luck.
Gameplay
Airbag Frank 3D, developed by drahtwerk, whom you may or may not remember them for their previous game Yay! Zombies, a game where you can slice or shoot the not-so-living hell out of zombies in the best Fruit Ninja-way, is a casual game that came out just about a week ago onto Google Play. It’s gameplay is a fairly simple one: Your duty, as Frank’s controller, is to make him go the furthest and highest possible through an endless landscape filled with traps, holes and creatures. To do that, you count on a set of tools that range from the common slingshot to a clearly overpowered jetpack.
While you could think the game goes as far as that and contains no more than a few repetitive sequences, it really shows off some polished artwork as well. Airbag Frank 3D essentially has three main uses for your fingers: you must catapult Frank in the beginning, you must tap the jetpack to give him both speed and height, and you must hit the poor thing with fruits (hey, why not?) to give him even more movement or take him out of dangerous situations.
Other than that, Frank will find himself hitting a creature-filled floor and bouncing back up. You can always get him out of the map for a safe ride, or try to catch as many coins as possible before getting him stuck in a nasty green jelly block or one of those end-of-game holes in the floor. Either way, you’re not totally in control of Frank: Luck ultimately decides how long can you go and if that hit you just gave him with a lemon will give him a few more feet of fun or send you back to square one.
Graphics
In the graphics and sounds department, drahtwerk’s latest game works well. Graphics are made with a 3D rendered, 2D world. Every single moving thing is modeled in 3D, and along the way you’ll find those explosion, hit, power-up and landing effects nice as you get more into the game. Despite the fact that you’ll be missing a soundtrack while you fling the little guy, the game contains some nice sound effects that will let you know whenever you hit a UFO or stumbled upon a bombed friend.
Pricing
And here’s the trick, something that really got my opinion on full positive. The game is completely free. It doesn’t even include In-App Purchases to give you coins faster or unlock everything. Yes, the game includes a “Gold” version, and the only difference of it from the free version is a golden skin for your frank to wear and you showing them your support. So yes, no ripping your hair over how difficult it is to unlock that nice slingshot or those big time hitting melons without buying them for a dollar each.
Conclusion
It’s really hard to find a game that has a lot of effort put into it (it’s just a matter of looking at every single consideration in its physics engine and how beautifully done their 3D models are) priced for free. It’s even harder to find that game not having a single IAP after they became rather popular.
Airbag Frank 3D restores a little bit of that hope we old-time gamers have in games done purely for the sake of gaming, and developers earning it hard through the gamers’ thankfulness for a good week or day or hour of fun.
