Daily iPhone App: Seal Force
Seal Force is an interesting app from Tactile Entertainment, makers of Pocket Creatures and the recent Pigs in Trees line-drawing game. It tries to combine two relatively new genres in iOS games: Line-drawing and running. You play as the Seal Force team (they have their own Saturday morning-style intro), who must "run" underwater, in a similar style to Jetpack Joyride. The twist is that you're also line-drawing paths for each member of the team, trying to take out differently colored krill as you move along.
The controls are simple, but things get confusing fast. You have to match up the color of your seals with the krill on the right side of the screen. There are also shells to collect and, in a mechanic stolen directly from Jetpack Joyride, you work on three missions at a time, each with its own rewards.
Seal Force is interesting but not entirely successful. You can only control one seal at a time, which makes things a slow. It'd be more fun, for example, to send them out on different paths all the time (and there is a powerup to do just that, though it's limited use). But the game is fun enough, and it does have that addictive "I can do better, just one more time" feel that this kind of running game requires. The setting is Seal Force's highlight. It's very cute when the characters call in with their catchphrases every time you send them out, as if this old TV show did really exist once upon a time.
The price is right, too. Seal Force is a freemium title, with more shells available as an in-app purchase. Seal Force is available as a universal download right now, so if the mix of genres sounds intriguing, check it out.
