Gorillaz - Escape to Plastic Beach Review
PROS
- Smooth and snappy hang-glider maneuvering.
- Fun, colorful visual style.
- Mixed down tracks from the album.
CONS
- Short to play-through.
- Few attractive replay options.
VERDICT
Dive-bombing and sailing through the air as Murdoc in 'Gorillaz - Escape to Plastic Beach' is a fun, albeit brief experience for fans to check out.
- Full Review
- App Store Info
Ever since the turn of the century Gorillaz has gone from a funky project by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett and has turned in to a multimedia juggernaut that threatens to consume us all (this may or may not be entirely out of proportion to reality). 'Gorillaz - Escape to Plastic Beach' by Matmi is the latest in media tie-ins for the band and you'll get to take control of the deranged Murdoc as he attempts to reign in the band and defend their island home.
Murdoc takes flight in a customized hang-glider and can easily be maneuvered thanks to simple tilt controls. Tapping the screen enables your machine guns for shooting down various targets including any vehicles 2D manages to escape with. Once the main mission is completed players can explore the area to collect bonuses and sail around the vast 3D world to earn more points for their final score.
It goes without saying that the game is dripping with Jamie Hewlett's classic comic-book style and it works amazingly well in 3D. Unfortunately the iPhone version uses low detail models and textures that look incredibly bland from a distance, which is fairly often if you take the time to explore.
Ultimately this is a fairly short game and without more of a story it just seems like a random sequence of excuses to go for a quick spin in the glider. While it's great to jump in to the Gorillaz 'world' for a short time, Escape to Plastic Beach feels too brief and repetitive to make this a long-lasting game even for fans of the band.
Screenshots
$0.99
