With Android a little late to this party, it's time to get everyone hooked. In 2014, Hipster Whale developed the game Crossy Road for iOS. This continuous Frogger-like game keeps you on your toes by placing the different cars, trucks, trains and logs in your way just to see how far you can get your character to go. You can collect coins along the way, but you normally earn these by watching ads and awaiting your free gift that shows up every few hours. You use these coins for the quarter-toy machine to see if you get any new characters.
These characters are the best part of this game. After the latest update, there are 70 characters to play. You get to choose from animals, toys, to characters and even robots (sorry, no TechRaptor...yet.) to customize your feel of the game. Each character does have a different feel, like a funny noise, action, but in the long run, they all move the same. There is a wide variety of them too, from of course a chicken, to a basketball player. Some of the characters also change the scenery of the game. The Ghost, for example, makes the highway dark. The newest update brings the Outback with is where the new characters will be crossing a desert highway.
The graphics are simple nostalgic 8 bit styling, but it works with the game. The animations are smooth and there is very little skipping if any. The higher you get in the game, the more stuff they throw at you, and that's when it can start taxing your processor. The sounds in the game are the hidden gem Crossy Road. It separates all of the characters just that much more. And once you start collecting characters it's like Pokemon and you gotta get 'em all...
... and that is where they try to suck you in. This free-to-play game does run on microtransactions for new characters. The characters are pricey as well at a buck a pop. This will not stop children from begging you to buy them. They do a real good job at egging you on to purchase a character by occasionally letting you try out a new character for a few rounds.
This is one of those strange games that you try, and then you can't put down. My daughter piqued my interest in this game when she was very close to getting grounded from her tablet rather than put it down for dinner. Her and her sister were passing it back and forth and ...wait for it... actually getting along playing this game. This made me curious on what could create that type of world peace, so I checked it out after they went to bed. Four hours later and sitting there with my phone plugged in, I can see how this will be a perfect time waster.
Crossy Road is available for iOS, Android through Google Play or the Amazon Appstore now for free.
Crossy Road was reviewed on the Android platform.
Review Summary
This easy to pick up game is for everyone. Even if you are just looking to kill a couple of minutes, you'll find yourself playing for hours.