You know how it goes, you’re a duo of mercenaries – the best at what you do – out on one of the biggest missions of your life when you realise something ain’t right.
Crap! It’s was a trap!
In no time at all you are surrounded, with only two options – Fight and most certainly die in the process or allow yourself to be captured but most importantly be alive to escape later.
While Malaysian developers Touchy Interactive never specifically stated this was the back story to games characters in their new iOS tactical puzzle game Split! I like to imagine it went down a little like that.
As the player to take control of both of the games characters (Red & Blue) as after breaking out of there cell’s they attempt to escape from the maximum security hell-hole they have found themselves in. In order to do this you will need to manoeuvre the characters in to the right positions to be able to help each other out.
Being maximum security the guards are not messing about, they will shoot to kill, so the trick of the game is finding ways around the map that will always allow for one of the characters to be free to move around without interference. One of the best ways of doing this is to draw fire with one character while the other flanks the guard and gets a clean shot in. Later in the game you will also learn to take advantage of the guards movement patterns to lay ambushes or to try running past them knowing that you will be in cover before their firing arch catches up with you.
This is all done with a very intuitive control scheme. In order to move the pair around you simply select on of them and draw the path you want them to take with your finger. Map control is equally as simple, dragging anywhere clear on the map will allow you to scroll around while pinching will zoom out to give you the overview map.
Even once you have learnt the mechanics though don’t expect this game to be forgiving, some of these levels are truly challenging and you will find yourself replaying them again and again to find the best possible solution. To give you even more reason to go back and replay them each map has 3 collectable cover crates and collecting them is not always easy, sometimes it requires a completely different solution to the map.
The graphics also helps sell this game, they are the right little cartoony style that is relaxing to look at when you are get stuck on the same map for a while. The could perhaps have done with a few more map tiles to put in a bit more visual variety, but for the price of the game you can not really complain.
The only downside for me to this game was the music and that was purely a personal taste thing. They have opted for a dub step soundtrack for this game, and when fitted into context it is one that works, but I am not personally a dub step fan.
Overall then there is really no reason not to have this game on your iPhone or iPad, it is a very solid and challenging puzzle game that you will enjoy being frustrated by. To make the choice even easier for you is the price. The iPhone version will only set you back 59p & the iPad £1.49, but there is also a Lite version of both for you to try it for yourself.
