Chillingo’s COOTIES Review Updated 2/11 – Preview of Kid-Friendly Features Coming Soon

Update 2/11: Chillingo has kindly let me know I will be able to post the preview of the revamped Cooties! which will sport a Kid-Friendly Easy mode, a Frantic mode for those who have mastered the games.  I will be able to put the shots live sometime around Valentine’S Day, so check back often!

UPDATE 2/4: KyyGames was kind enough to give me a sneak peek at their next update. I will reveal as much as I can soon, all I can say for now is get your little ones ready for a Cootie Attack. Follow me @sahGeekMom for more details COMING SOON – ONLY from the StayAtHomeGeekMom! Download it now while’s it’s still .99 cents, one day I suspect you will be paying $60 for a console version!

Previous Title: Cooties – Very Cute, Very Fun, but Not For Smallest People, Yet…

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by KYY Games, distributed by ClickGamer.com; Chillingo
SAHGeekMom Score: 4.5 out of 5 stars (Great!) (updated 2/2 from 4 to 4.5 based on developer responsiveness and upcoming features)
Pump’s Score (he’s the 7 year old gamer-in-chief – see 10 Reasons or About SAHGM….) : 3.5 Pumps Up! (Very Good but Too Hard at Times, he’ll Love the iPhone version and he has his own so I can use my iPad once in a while 😉 )

Recommended Age – Grade 2 to Retirement, Coming Soon Pre-K and up.

A word about planned updates left in comment by KYY and why I keep updating this review.

I am not usually so changeable, but I have upgraded my rating (not Pump’s) 2x in 2 days for good reasons. Whenever a game or an app I have reviewed changes, updates, or just grows (or shrinks) on me I will revise accordingly. And if i discover a dedicated dev that will impress me favourably.  Cooties is a good example of why to its best to  give developers a chance to fix things or respond to your concerns before you leave snarky comments in the App Store ….

So, like, um, wow! Talk about a developer who cares about feedback, user comments and ideas.  He took the time to read my blog and respond to my concerns and suggestions, and as you can see for yourself in the comments he is an affable open fellow who wants to provide both adults AND kids of ALL AGES with a quality game. I am confident it will be a 5 star keeper for everyone in your family soon!.

Thanks for the insider details, KYY! I’ll be following this company on twitter eager to see what their next smash hit will be.

[1/27 original post.]

I saw Chillingo Tweet about a new game early this morning, called Cooties, that just hit the App Store today. Pump and I both have had great fun with Chillingo’s Sneezies, and the brief description gave me the impression this would be like Sneezies on steroids. Well it’s not really like Sneezies at all, but this is definitely a ‘pop and flick’ game that is action-packed right from the start.

Before I go into picky mode, here is a bit about the game since it brand spanking new. (You can preview it – see the video below.)

In Cooties it is your job to save the organs (human organs, starting with Louie the Liver) from all sorts of germs (Cooties.). You have to pop, swipe, flick  and use the ‘penicillin’ and other power-ups, to clear 100% of the germs before you lose your health. You have 3 tries to clear a level.

It sounds great, looks slick, I was ready to have some fun and I did. I did get frustrated only three levels into the game. But after messing around over the last week I have to say it grows on me. It’s crazy frantic, but that’s a good thing!

The game starts off in Liverpools and the level is divided into chapters. Each chapter starts off with a little comic strip, which is both amusing, and contains the tips you need to complete the level.

Tip: Use both hands and all your fingers!

 

Each of the chapters introduces a new enemy germ. The first you merely have to tap to destroy, the second you have to flick away etc. The interface is clean and responsive and clearing the screen in the first few levels before you take too many knocks is easily accomplished with the 3 lives. Until you meet these guys!

Ok to wrap up here’s:

 

The Good:

The game is adorable. The characters are appealing to little kids; they are so sweet they come perilously close to being saccharine, but they game has enough ‘bad guy’ germs keep it from spilling over the top of the kitsch-o-meter. In fact my son loves the darker scenes.

The soundtrack is the rare one I don’t immediately want to turn off; it is lively and fun. The game’s controls are super intuitive, and there is no learning curve to start play. You can jump in an get going right away.

Also the game has enough fans for someone to have sought me out to explain the gameplay on launch day. This did not come from the developers, which says something about its buzz.

Cooties is Game Center and Crystal enabled for leaderboards and achievements. The devs suggest you could play multi-player on one device, but I think the pace is too frenetic for that not to cause some bumps and pouts if your teammate is a child, although it is a better option than having them play solo and not get it at all.

The Bad:

The clues need to be clearer or more clearly ironic (think of the sign painter in World of Goo.)

We’d Like to See:

An EASY mode, like Sneezies has and if possible less Reading, or a read-aloud option in the Easy mode. My son really wants to play this every day, it’s just too fast for him and every time he’d get past one level he would come to me to teach him the nest. No biggie, but I like for him to be able to play independently. And with his learning curve, like most kids, as soon as his motor skills are as good as mine, he will love it on the iPhone and he has his own so I can get my iPad back!

Check out the Video from Clickgamer.com:

Be Back Soon With the Exclusive preview – Happy App Hunting

The SAFGeekMom