Qwak Retro Game iPhone Review

Classic Amiga platformer remade for the iPhone

Originally released back in 1989 for the BBC/Electron, this cutesy platformer is better known for the (much better) Amiga A500 version that came out in 1993 by much loved UK software house, TEAM 17. The game's creator has now lovingly recreated Qwak for the iPhone and it's available now on iTunes for £1.79.

Inspired by arcade classics like Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Islands, Qwak features the adventures of a egg-lobbing duck who looks a bit like Keith Harris' Orville. Spanning 70 levels across six worlds, Qwak must make his way around a variety of single screen levels filled with fruit, keys, levers, flowers and gems until he reaches the exit.

The gameplay is fast, frantic, colourful and noisy with some peculiar whale/fish/seal baddies (straight out of Bubble Bobble) that are dispatched with a few well placed eggs. Stating out deceptively simple but quickly becoming fiendishly difficult the game itself is (and always was) more addictive than heroin-covered Haribo's.

So how does the game translate over to the Apple wonder-phone?

First impressions are very favourable. The graphics are bright, slick, and look better than ever before in HD running at a smooth 60 fps. Sounds are chirpy and clear (with a great duck-quack-splat noise when you die). The only problem I found with the presentation was some of the crumbling platforms are too dark and don't stand out from the background enough, although I suspect you can fix this by adjusting the brightness on your iPhone.

Now, onto the bane of all iPhone games - the controls. At first I was impressed with the responsiveness of the onscreen buttons for left, right, jump and egg-lob. The little Qwakker was darting left and right at full pelt and bouncing up and down like he was happy to be alive.

However...

About three levels into the game it becames overwhelmingly obvious that the touch screen buttons do not provide the tactile accuracy of a d-pad or joystick and with your eyes concentrating on the on-screen action I found it all too easy to find my thumbs moving out of place, resulting in my Qwakker going totally the wrong way or jumping to his doom like a lemming.

Yes, once more a potentially great game has been scuppered by totally unsuitable controls. I think I would rather play it using the volume buttons, off switch and back button because at least you can feel where they are without having to stop and look! The action is too fast-paced and precise to allow for such a flawed control system and it playing anywhere past the first ten levels becomes knuckle-bitingly frustrating.

Another iPhone game I would love to love, but can't see myself returning to. In fact I think I'll just dig out my old Amiga and play it how it was supposed to be.

6/10