iPhone review of the day: Cardboard Castle - like Scribblenauts, but made of LittleBigPlanet and without all the spelling

On iPhone
Game:
Cardboard Castle
Price: $0.99 US, %26pound;0.59 UK
Size: 17.8 MB
Get it now on iTunes:US/ UK

On iPad:
Game:
Cardboard Castle HD
Price: $1.99 US, %26pound;1.19 UK
Size: 60.3 MB
Get it now on iTunes:US/UK

Cardboard Castle is an enjoyable little game in which you%26rsquo;ll need to cleverly dodge obstacles and build bridges to clear your knight%26rsquo;s path as he presses onward to some awesome crusade that one can only hope does not involve violent religious persecution. To clear the brave knight%26rsquo;s path, you%26rsquo;ll need to manipulate the elements of the cardboard world in which each level is set. Chopping down a tree with a pair of scissors makes a log that you can then drag over a gap to make a bridge; spilling water on paper turns it into pulp that the sun can harden.

You%26rsquo;ll need to plan your moves out pretty far in advance, however: if you use your resources in the wrong order, you%26rsquo;ll end up stuck with no choice but to start the level over. You might think it%26rsquo;s a good idea to take that axe and hack the tree down to create a bridge, but what about the guard standing in the way? He%26rsquo;s gonna brain you. Restart, attack him with your axe first to get him out of the way, then take his axe to chop the tree down and make a bridge. As the game goes on and more and more elements are thrown in, you%26rsquo;ll spend just as much time plotting out your progression as you do enacting your plan%26mdash;which may just involve an inflamed bull. The whole thing makes for a fun chess-style experience set against a LittleBigPlanet-themed backdrop with the Rube Goldberg-ian feel of Scribblenauts.

You%26rsquo;ll have to be clever and persistent, but not perfect. If you get stuck%26mdash;and you will, as plenty of these levels don%26rsquo;t have obvious solutions and some involve a few touch mechanics you probably won%26rsquo;t even think to try%26mdash;you can opt to buy clues with the sovereigns you%26rsquo;ve picked up along the way.

The game has three main campaigns, each made up of five stages with the fifth containing the %26ldquo;boss%26rdquo; at the end (scoundrels who kidnapped the princess, etc.). You won%26rsquo;t engage in a boss fight so much as be charged with evading a boss obstacle, but each is a fitting end to a campaign nonetheless.

After completing the third campaign, you can play around with the time trial mode, in which you see how far your knight can get before time runs out (eliminating an obstacle adds precious seconds on to the clock). It%26rsquo;s fun for a bit, but the heart of the game is definitely the campaign mode.

The campaign is short without a doubt, but we%26rsquo;re up for quality over quantity any day when it comes to gaming. It%26rsquo;s a perfect little snack at the perfect price.

May 11, 2011

PRODUCTS
Latest in Games
Baldur's Gate 3 screenshot showing Astarion, a pale male elf with short curly white hair and red eyes, looking over his shoulder with a smirk on his face
Baldur's Gate 3 Astarion actor comes face to face with what might just be the best merch to come of the RPG yet – a 5-foot Funko Pop figure of his character
The Witcher 3 screenshot of Geralt
Avowed and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 tap into the same thing that makes The Witcher 3 so compelling – and it's something I'm always looking for in RPGs
Key art for Katamari Damacy Rolling LIVE showing the Prince rolling a Katamari as the King of All Cosmos sits at a livestreaming setup.
The first all-new Katamari Damacy game in almost 8 years is trapped in Apple Arcade jail, and I can only hope it follows in Hello Kitty Island Adventure's footsteps to eventually escape
No Rest for the Wicked
Ori and the Blind Forest developer is now "fully independent" after "months of negotiation" with what remained of its gutted publisher
Atomfall
Atomfall boss "very familiar" with Baldur's Gate 3 director's frustrations with publishers, as he recalls horror advice that games are "faster to make" if you "make fewer bugs"
Limbo
"You can't rewrite the past just because of a bad breakup": Legendary indie devs' feud is going public
Latest in Features
The Witcher 3 screenshot of Geralt
Avowed and Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 tap into the same thing that makes The Witcher 3 so compelling – and it's something I'm always looking for in RPGs
Marvel Rivals Spider-Man
Spider-Man has become every Marvel Rivals player's worst nightmare
The Punisher holding two machine guns in the rain
Daredevil: Born Again - Learn the bullet-riddled comic book history of the Punisher before he officially joins the MCU
A woman in a underwater machine waving during the cinematic teaser for Subnautica 2.
Subnautica 2: Everything we know about the new underwater survival game
The AMD Ryzen 7 8700G being held above a motherboard by a reviewer
AMD's pro-consumer 9070 strategies are exactly why it's primed to dominate the CPU market in 2025
Assassin's Creed Shadows cinematic screenshot
Assassin's Creed Shadows' transmog looks set to combine the best of Odyssey and Vahalla to make changing my drip easier than ever