What goes up, must come down. In iOS game Falling Fred, Fred not only comes down, he avoid saws, fire, blades and concrete ledges. It's a seemingly endless race to the bottom, and the goal here is to see how far Fred can fall before splattering to bits.
Falling Fred uses the gyroscope to control the character as he falls to his near death. Tilting the device right or left controls Fred horizontally, while tilting it forward or backwards controls him vertically. There are power-ups that can be collected during the fall. Fred can lose limbs, but his head is his weak point, so hitting it too hard will end his fall (and the game).
The game's core mechanic is like Doodle Jump in reverse—the idea here isn't to see how high one can jump, but how far one can fall. Gameplay is simple and straightforward, making use of Apple's hardware.
Each fall only lasts seconds, and the simple gameplay make Falling Fred an ideal time killer. It's also possible to share recorded falls via Facebook and Twitter—a neat added value.
The animation is well done, but bloody. It's cartoon blood, though, and all is good fun (Fred doesn't die!).
I keep finding myself picking up Falling Fred, playing a few falls, and putting the game down. Then picking it up again and putting it down. Wash, rinse, repeat. That's probably the best thing one can say about a title like this.
The game is currently free for a limited time, but there are characters like "M. Gandalfi" and "Ogama Ben Ladder", available for purchase if that's your thing. It wasn't mine.
Falling Fred [Apple]