Crazy Penguin Catapult 2

There have been quite a few questions that have always been able to stand the test of time and still leave us all flummoxed after many of the greatest minds have tried to answer them, with varying degrees of success. The chicken and the egg for example, which came first? Sadly I don’t have the answer, but I do know that you can work out who’ll come off better from a fight between Penguins and Polar Bears by playing Crazy Penguin Catapult 2!

OK, it’s perhaps not the most prominent question that’s stumped the Einstein’s of the world, but still, if you can overlook the fact that Penguins live in the Antarctic and Polar Bears live in the Arctic, you can still have a good laugh as you wage war in a rather creative, if not slightly comedic way.

You are in charge of the Penguins who are out to eliminate all of the white Polar Bears (as if they didn’t have enough problems with global warming?!) by means of catapulting your non-flying birds in a kamikaze mission. The first part of the game relies on you pressing the launch button at the right time as your usually non-flying birds either dangle from a rope or jump into the path of your catapult. If you get the timing right, your bird will fly through the air (and onto the next stage), but if you get it wrong, your Penguin will resemble a joke of the ‘what’s black and white and red all over?’ variety.

The second stage is where you get to ‘dive-bomb’ your opponents by means of pressing the key at the chosen moment to try and hit the Polar Bears. This takes a bit of guess work and timing to get right.

To improve the chances of hitting the Polar Bears, you can periodically improve your Penguins’ skills. For example, you can add to your overall number of Penguins which you can fire in one round, make them deal more damage and smash through ice blocks, or even improve the number of ricochets it takes before your Penguin falls off the screen (and then it’s your next Penguin’s turn).

A nice touch to this game, which does take you away from the slight repetitiveness, is the option to play the ‘strategy’ version of the game, which is a little bit like the game Risk. In this mode, you have a random selection of squares with a number of one to six units (Penguins or Polar Bears). What you must do is try to outsmart your opponent (which does vary in difficulty), by trying to outnumber and eliminate them by simply highlighting and moving them to the adjacent opponent’s square.  At the end of your turn, it then becomes the computer’s turn. After the moves have taken place, your army numbers are replenished, and it’s your turn to try and win again.

By having two games, of different types as part of the package, this game really does give you a lot of bang for your buck. The quirky and fun style does delay the effect of the repetitive nature of the game and with so many levels to try and conquer, it’s safe to say you’ll be playing for several hours.

Rating 70%

Positive

Two types of game give you lots of fun, both strategy and action

Quirky and good graphics

Lots of levels for you to master

Difficulty levels can be changed to give you a good challenge

Negatives

A bit repetitive

A little too easy to pick off the Polar Bears (the launch is the most difficult part)