Granny Smith is a physics-driven Android tablet and smartphone racing game from Mediocre, whose 36 hand-crafted levels are anything but. You can also get it for iOS.
This latest title from the maker of Sprinkle offers fantastic visuals and spectacular stunts across three worlds. Smash windows, burst through fences, tear up gardens, dash through shopping centres and zoos, and use your cane to swing from pillar to post as you race to beat the thief to your beloved green apples. Bricks, glass and wood fly all over the place, and the look on Granny's face as she hurtles through the air on a pair of rollerskates says it all: wow. See Best Android Apps.
The Granny Smith green apple, named after Maria Ann Smith, originated in Australia in 1868. Despite her surprisingly active pursuits, Granny Smith looks as though she really could be that old, and is both slow and fragile. But Granny Smith is no ordinary granny; she can rollerskate, somersault through the air, and drop 30ft to the ground… and get back up. You can also equip Granny Smith with a helmet, banana peels and baseballs to help her outwit the apple thief and blast through obstructions, although the ability to later in the game unlock two faster characters, Scruffy and Stanley, is something of a saving grace. See Android Advisor.
There are just two controls, grab and jump, which fall naturally under your left and right thumbs, yet the game is surprisingly difficult. And we really wanted an accelerate button to catch that apple thief. You'll need to get your timing just right to avoid landing in a crumpled mess on the ground and losing all your money. You're also awarded points for landing Granny firmly on two feet following a jump, which is much harder than it sounds. We must have pressed the restart button more times than any other in our tests. If you like this, also check out World of Goo for Android review.
Scattered throughout each level are coins, which not only buy you new booby traps for the apple thief, allow you to unlock new characters and skip the most difficult levels, but help point out the correct path through a level. Three green apples are also found in each level, with your aim to get to them before the thief does. You don't need to collect all three to move on to the next level, nor score a certain number of points, and we found it a much greater challenge simply to reach the finishing line.
The learning curve is steep, and the game can feel repetitive, but it'll take some time to complete all 36 levels and it's well worth the 83p outlay. Granny Smith also has charm by the bucketloads. Following the successful completion of each level you can watch a retro-style movie replay, with the action shot from different camera angles and using slow-motion effects to truly capture the look of desperation in Granny Smith's eyes as she seeks out her apples… and pain, as she faceplants time after time.
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