Ketchapp seems to be delivering simple and fun games, one right after the other. In the past month or so, they have pushed The Tower, Amazing Thief and Make Them Fight into the Play Store. Thus far, all of the games have a few things in common. They have clean and simple graphics, they are easy to pick up and put down for quick game play, and each one is entertaining in its own right. Most recently, Ketchapp, in collaboration with WF Games, brought Stick Hero to the Play Store. Anybody in your family can pick up and play this game easily. All it requires is a good judge of distance.
I like games that have great length to them, but when I don’t have a lot of time, and I want to play a game, I need one that compresses everything I like into a few moments. Stick Hero does that well. Not much is missing from the game. If I were to add anything, it would be a compelling story, being able to modify your character and having the ability to unlock achievements. Does not having any of these things deter from the fun of the game, absolutely not. The graphics are bright and varying, the game play is fun, and the difficulty is right where it needs to be.
The premise of Stick Hero is uncomplicated. “Stretch the stick in order to reach and walk on the platforms. Watch out! If the stick is not long enough, you will fall down! How far can you go?“- Ketchapp That is all that you have to do. You have to get your hero from point a to point b. You do this by estimating the width of the chasm between where he is, and where he wants to be. He moves from the left side of your screen to the right side of the screen, once you have determined the length of the stick it will take for him to walk across to the other side.
Controlling your hero is done by one button. You press down on the screen to extend the vertical stick into the air. Once you think the stick is long enough, you release your finger from the screen. After that, the stick falls to the other side of the chasm, and your hero begins to walk across. If the stick is too long, he walks past the support of point b, and his weight causes the stick to tilt and he falls off. If the stick is to short, his weight causes him to fall off before he gets to the other side. That sounds easy, doesn’t it? Well, it can be, if you are good at visually measuring distances, and this is where the game becomes challenging.
The distance between you and the other side is always going to change. You have to get it just right because, the hero just doesn’t stop when he gets to the other side. He still moves for a moment or two. How many times can you successfully walk across the chasam? That’s it! That’s all there is to the game.
Stick Hero is integrated with Google Game Play Services and has leaderboards. The game is free to play with no in-app purchases and no way to turn the ad banner off, that appears at the bottom of your screen. In no way does the banner impede your ability to play the game. I haven’t seen anything in the menus that would let me unlock ads, just in case you were wondering. If you have a few minutes, and you want to play a pretty good free game, Stick Hero is now available to download in the Play Store.
