Ever since Angry Birds, the catapult has been an iconic feature of the casual mobile gaming landscape. Developer Gammes uses this iconic weapon to good effect in BallDog!, a game about propelling a dog as far as you can through the air.
That may sound like a slightly cruel premise, but the dog in question looks happy enough, and his spherical body shape makes him an ideal projectile. In a way, he is fulfilling his potential.
Plus, there’s a store where you can buy alternative skins, so you can hurl a cat, an alligator, a chicken, or a pig through the air instead if you prefer.
BallDog! is exactly the kind of casual game your touchscreen smartphone was made for. The premise couldn’t be simpler or more familiar. To launch your cheerful little character into the air you just pull back on the catapult, move it to the right angle, and let go.
Once your character is in the air, you can keepit there by holding your finger on the screen. This produces an endless stream of bubbles that keep you aloft. That means your fingertip has to be underneath your character, of course, creating an extra dimension of challenge, since you can’t just tap anywhere.
Unfortunately, the sky is not a welcoming environment for an airborne beast. There are pointy-beaked birds up there, as well as floating mines. You’ve got three lives, and each collision with an obstacle costs you one of them.
Weaving between these obstacles is tricky, but fortunately the sky is also littered with power-ups to help you overcome the challenge. Plus, you can buy upgrades for your catapult in the store.
The aim of the game is to get as far as you can. Actually, no. The aim of the game is to get farther than your friends. There’s a friend system, as well as global and personal leaderboards.
Go and download BallDog! for free right now on Google Play.
