Try delicious Buddha Finger (nothing to do with chicken or Chinese food)
Two words: teenage stepkids. Strike terror into your heart? Exactly. So when I see an opportunity for quality time with my 16-year-old stepdaughter, I grab it. I never would have expected such an opportunity to come in the form of a video game, but Buddha Finger and she were made for each other (when I arrived on the scene she was 10, and already a hardcore Japanophile and accomplished manga artist). I knew she would go nuts for this game, for the way it looks, if for no other reason. She’s not a gamer. Dabbles in Bejeweled, and that’s about it. I’m the Scrabble type. My diabolical plan: ask her to test the game with me.
Forty minutes of giggles and squeals (both of us) and numerous “Oh, she’s cool“s later (both of us), I called the game a success. I even had fun watching her play it, and there’s usually nothing more boring than watching somebody else play a video game. We played it on my iPad (I took over when she got tired) and, when we were done, she asked if there was a version for iPod touch. (There is.) Win!
The game has a simple story line with a plot that advances with every level completed. Twin brothers separated as children, benevolent martial arts master, gangsters, martial artist bad guys (male AND female). The player (representing one of the twins) must fight off the bad guys, and this is done by tapping and spinning numbers, or swiping between them, as they appear on the screen. You have to be fast and coordinated. It’s more challenging than it sounds!
Impressively, the developers of this game (two women) managed to translate the striking, spinning and chopping you might do if you were Bruce Lee into the non-violent fingertip gestures you perform to knock down the bad guys. (Note that I said “knock down,” not “kill.”)
I found the music annoying (but I’m one of those people who wants to yank game players out of other people’s kids’ hands and toss them under the wheels of a car if the sound is on). But the sound effects are absolutely adorable. The developers provide two controls so you can turn off either track or adjust the volume of both tracks (Options menu). Thank you.
Round of applause, please! It’s really hard to get me to like anything about any video game.
Devices: iOS
Cost: $0.99
Buddha Finger on the App Store
