A delightful game that probably would be better with physical buttons – The Last Rocket Review

If Nintendo made games for iOS, they would look like this. I don't mean visually -- though the 8-bit approach is charming and well-animated. I mean in the graduated approach to game mechanics; introducing a new technique and then helping the user to build experience with it before adding another one. It's a hallmark of great game design, and the Last Rocket excels at it. The frustrating thing about playing this game on a touch screen is that "tap and release" and "tap and hold" are two very different actions in the Last Rocket; but not two very different actions to a finger. There's no physical, springy button like those on game controllers that can offer tactile feedback about its up or down state. This being the case, it frequently happens that you'll *think* you've performed a tap-and-release when in fact your finger is still close enough to the glass to register as a hold. In these cases, your rocket dies. That does mean you'll play some levels many more times than you might otherwise need to, but honestly I don't see how this could be avoided given the device constraints. Flip (the rocket) has an impressive repertoire of moves for a system based on taps and swipes; and it'd be a shame to limit this. So, yes, you should expect to be frustrated with certain levels. The Last Rocket is still very much worth playing, and one of the tightest little games on the App Store. I'm working on my second playthrough now, trying to find 100% of the hidden gears.
Review by iconmaster on The Last Rocket.