Hopiko: An ideal game for anyone with superhuman hand-eye co-ordination

For the casual gamer, the pleasingly retro environment may not quite be enough to make persevering seem appealing

Karl McDonald
Sunday 11 October 2015 22:45 BST
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A single wrong move can force you to retread minutes worth of steps
A single wrong move can force you to retread minutes worth of steps

Deep inside the bowels of a 1980s console, things are looking bad. Viruses have captured the organisms that apparently make things tick, game-wise. There’s a way to save the day, but you’ll have to be fast, launching yourself from platform to platform at twitch-fast speed.

Hopiko’s kamikaze missions are compelling. In a world reminiscent of NES games set in space before graphics were advanced enough to depict it with any sort of immersion, there is great pleasure in puzzling out the exact breakneck moves needed to advance. You can dart straight with a tap of the screen or go at an angle by dragging – and you’ll encounter enough tight squeezes, moving monsters and featureless voids to learn quickly which to use at any given juncture.

It is a challenge, though. With frantic 8-bit music to get the blood pumping, a single wrong move can force you to retread minutes worth of steps, with levels grouped into fives and an arcade-like regression to the beginning of the group upon (inevitable) failure. Then there’s a new skill to master every time things get comfortable. Completing levels is one thing, but completing them within the time required to gain the gold-star tick of approval seems at times like it is a matter of simply bashing the screen and hoping for the best.

Is it worth it? That depends. For the casual gamer, the pleasingly retro environment and hard-fought early victories will be enjoyable, if not quite enough to make persevering seem appealing. But for those with either superhuman hand-eye co-ordination or infinite patience, this is a diligently crafted game that shows puzzles don’t have to be sedate – and manic, twitchy gameplay doesn’t have to be headless.

Hopiko, £2.99, iOS, Android

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