I find myself in an interesting situation here, re-reviewing a game which I already reviewed a month ago. So, why am I doing it? In short, the wonderful guys at FuturLab decided that they could make their awesome game even better, and as soon as the game hit the store they were eager to hear everyone’s thoughts. From forums posts and comments to feedback-gathering emails, we all discussed which areas could be improved upon to make Coconut Dodge a shining example of the minis platform. This all cumulated in an updated version of the game being released last Wednesday, replacing the original.
At first glance Coconut Dodge appears to be much the same, but it’s improved in a lot of areas and FuturLab have managed to squeeze even more content in for you to play around with. The basic gameplay remains unchanged, with you controlling little Clawrence as he dodges falling coconuts and collects the treasure falling from the trees. Collecting treasure gives you points, and your main aim is to rack up a massive score by collecting as much as possible before kicking the bucket. This was a main area of frustration with the original, as many people found the game to be too hard with the single life you’re given. Thus, the major change for the new version was the inclusion of three lives.
Coconut Dodge was fairly unforgiving in that it only took one coconut to the noggin to end your play and send you back to the beginning. Whilst great for the hardcore players who are always eager for a challenge, it did hinder the ‘pick-up-and-play’ factor somewhat. Skill was essential for reaching the later levels and racking up those high scores, so more lives was a heavily requested feature to make the game more welcoming for beginners. You’ll be pleased to know that FuturLab have heard your cries and you now have three lives to play with, making the game a bit easier. Don’t think that you can just cheat with your extra lives though, as the points system has been re-jigged slightly. If you still have all your lives at levels 10, 20 and 30, you’ll be rewarded with 20,000 bonus points at each milestone. It’s added incentive not to get hit, and the hardcore players will be rewarded for their skill with larger scores.
Second on the list of major updates is the ability to quit and restart from the pause menu. Previously you had to die before you were given the option of quitting out to the main menu, but FuturLab have once again listened to your feedback and you can now quit out to the main menu to your heart’s content. Whilst it was only a minor niggle for me it’s nice to see it patched just to make our lives a little bit easier, as well as that of Clawrence’s. You don’t have squash him with a coconut just to access the menu, unless you’re a sadist and that’s your preferable method. If so, I suggest you attend Crab Squashers Anonymous.
A few tweaks have been made to the animations, too. Superturbo, activated by double-tapping and then holding X, has been given a mini-makeover. Clawrence now kicks up a bigger plume of dust when entering this mode, and a nifty little sound effect has been added. Some asked that superturbo be mapped to the square button, but this hasn’t been implemented because it would make the game far too easy. As far as I’m concerned this was the right move; the key and skill to navigating some of the mazes is rhythmic button pressing, a nifty little mechanic, which would have been lost.
As far as content goes, FuturLab have been so kind as to include easter eggs for players to find. The first is a game of Keepy Uppy where beach balls are thrown to you and you must bounce them the required number of times whilst also dodging coconuts. The second is the main game mode from the old version, where you’re only given one life and must make it as far as you can before getting squished. The third is most dastardly: dubbed the “Impossible” mode, it’s how Robin, the game’s programmer, plays the game. All colour is removed from anything falling (everything is black) making it hard to tell what’s a coconut and what isn’t. It’s hectic but an absolute laugh to play.
Switches have been made to the Maze Master mode (bit of a tongue twister, that): two unlockable mazes in the previous version, from levels 6 and 13, have been replaced with mazes unlocked from levels 1 and 2. Both mazes 6 and 13 were intended to be played with beach balls, and so were too easy to complete in Maze Master without them. Also, players will unlock mazes 1 and 2 much faster, giving them access to Maze Master much earlier on. Overall both the easter eggs and maze switches are extremely welcome and fantastic additions to the wealth of content already available.
Getting into the nitty gritty for a second, a few tweaks have been made here and there including new items to collect for points and a bug fix for level 10, where there was a very rare chance that no coconuts would fall. These changes won’t scream out to you and aren’t as obvious as some of the others, but they’re all present and making the experience as enjoyable as possible.
I must say that I really admire what FuturLab has done with Coconut Dodge, listening intently to feedback and implementing everything that they possibly could. The update doesn’t alter anything that made the game so awesome in the first place and only serves to build Coconut Dodge into a complete, fun and addictive experience which should be enjoyed by absolutely everyone. Still priced at £1.99 (the price goes up soon, so be quick) the game is exceptional value so there’s no reason for this mini to be missing from your collection. It’s undoubtedly the best mini I’ve played and I can’t praise it enough, and thus I felt that it needed a new score after the update. Well done, guys.
If you’ve already bought the game and want the update, just delete the original from your PSP/PS3 and then re-download it from the store. If you’re buying it for the first time you’ll automatically get the new version.
Futurlab have also provided everyone with some Coconut Dodge related goodies, so click here to download some wallpapers and click here to download the soundtrack. Awesomes!
mynameisblair (75)
wick15 (17)
toutski (14)
Daywalker (13)
gazzagb (12)