Cronk
by Eric March on March 4, 2009 at 11:47 am
Rate it:
(3 votes, average: 4.33 out of 5)
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App Name: | Cronk |
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| Developer: | Cronk Games, Inc. |
Version: | 1.1 | |
| Publisher: | Cronk Games, Inc. |
Size: | 13.2 MB |
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| Category: | Casual Games |
Price: | $4.99 | |
For some reason, when it comes to Zuma clones, it seems as though it is difficult to step outside the formula, with the most visible difference between the various ones available being themed. Cronk Games’ eponymous first outing isn’t much different in that regard, trading Mesoamerican themes and pirates for some prehistoric caveman digs.
Anyone who is familiar with Zuma and its shadows won’t find anything to adjust to in Cronk, as the gameplay is thoroughly predictable. You’ve got your train of coloured objects you need to eliminate colour-by-colour by matching 3 or more of the same before they reach the end of the path, you’ve got your chain bonuses, and you’ve got your usual assortment of powerups such as pause, reverse, explosion and wildcard balls, as well as your usual difficulty progression featuring faster, longer, and/or multiple simultaneous trains. Controls are what you’d expect: Tap in the direction you want to fire a ball. Tap your dude to pause/go to settings. In other words, conceptually, Cronk <> Zuma.
Stylistically I’m inclined to give Cronk the edge over its peers, though. Ignoring for the moment the urge to make a Geico joke, the graphics are slick and professional, though if I may say so (and I may, because it’s my blog) the boulders look like they were constructed from rolled and coloured potato flakes rather than rock (too smooth and patchy-looking), and the only difference between “smooth” and “rough” boulders in the settings is that rough boulders look more contrasty. Not a big deal, just a relatively minor observation. Everything else looks good though. The sound effects, too, are well-considered and suit the theme very nicely. The music, while similarly well-done, gets a bit tiresome after a while, but you’ll probably get that with most casual games anyway. The performance is a bit sluggish though; it’s perfectly responsive and plays without issue, but the frame rate is a bit low, seeming to sit at around 15FPS, which reduces the games smoothness.
There is one annoying aspect of the game, and that is when you throw away a boulder because you don’t want or can’t presently use the current colour you’re holding effectively, the boulder you get back is the same damn colour, so throwing it away accomplishes nothing. Some may argue that it’s part of the strategy, and if that was intended to be the case, it’s a cheap way to make the game more difficult.
Don’t get me wrong, in the absence of an official Zuma in the App Store, this is very much up there in the quality department, and I’m mainly nitpicking. It’s what i do. The thing is, while it shows a high degree of polish, possibly even edging out its competitors, Cronk still doesn’t offer anything else over its peers. It adheres to the formula like a second skin, mainly offering little more than some new packaging. It’s still a great game, naturally, but much like Bejeweled and its shadows, Zuma clones have pretty much jumped the shark, too — maybe not as far as Bejeweled clones, but the shark is most assuredly gracing the rearview. What’s more, I suspect many will be turned off by the pricing, particularly when the similar (though slightly inferior yet somewhat differentiated) Blackbeard’s Assault (linked above) is $3 cheaper — and Cronk has already been dropped from its initial sticker price of $7.99. It seems to have sold even at this price point, but whether its sales curve has dropped into tail mode by now or has been bolstered a bit by the price drop remains to be seen.
If I had to recommend one Zuma clone over the others, Cronk would be it for its presentation. Those who haven’t yet picked up a Zuma-style game won’t be disappointed with this one for the most part. Just don’t expect anything more than Zuma.
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Posted in Games: Casual, Paid Apps
