An impressive puzzle game with interesting physics and very cute pandas!
Gameplay: You tap on cannons which shoot out panda balls… that’s right, you heard me – panda shaped balls… cute ones too. To pass the level you need to destroy all the enemy spheres. Each panda can nullify one enemy sphere. Most of the edges are lined with spikes, so if the panda touches them, it’ll die. When there’s only one panda on the screen it’ll fly forwards in the direction of the cannon. But when there are multiple pandas, then they’ll attract each other. This is where the interesting physics comes in because your pandas will look like they yoyo together around the place. As well as killing the enemy, there are 3 stars strategically placed on the pitch. So if you time your panda shots carefully, then you’ll be able to collect all the stars at the same time as passing the level. This 3 star system brings in the little competition factor, and increases the replay value. There are 16 levels in the free version of the game, and there’s also some connectivity to Open Feint.
Awesome elements: I loved this game as soon as it all loaded up. There’s cool theming to it and the menu music matches perfectly. The beginning game introduction is cute and the animations are mesmerising. What I find particularly funny is that the enemy spheres have personality, so they’re scared when a panda is nearby, and they’ll heckle you when you miss them! The whole animation combined with the sound effects is perfect. The graphics perfection goes very deep, so the light trails and electricity attraction lines are very well polished effects.
Nano Panda isn’t just all looks though – they have a great level designer who has thought up some very cunning levels. The nifty combinations and tactics will really get you thinking hard to try and collect all the stars.
Verdict: 4/5 The polish here is so great, you have to see it to believe it. The game footprint is quite low initially, 0.7 MB for the game itself, and 1 MB data accumulates as you play. My only quarm is that the free game is a bit short – but I’ll probably buy this game later to play the rest of it. [The team have revised the score after seeing many other great games out on the market (13 Jul 2011)]
Tips: According to the comments, this doesn’t load on all phones. So fingers crossed it’ll work for you. Even on my HTC Desire with it at optimum settings, I’ve found that navigating between screens takes some time and the menu system is a bit slow. So try and kill as many processes as possible, or it’ll most likely Force Close on you. Also, be patient with the install and the very first load – it takes a long time… but it’s worth it.
Nano Panda Launch Trailer
Nano Panda QR Code
(Click on the image or scan the barcode with your phone to goto the Android Market)
Developers: unit9
