The Giana Sisters is a retro platform game – actually it’s more appropriate to say a modern update to an old game – but other than that I’m not really sure what the game is about. Truthfully, though, it doesn’t really matter. This is old school platform action at its best, and that’s the important thing. The game looks great, it sounds good, and with 112 levels between the main game and “classic” mode it’s sure to keep you busy for a while. If you still think you need some convincing read on, but if you’re a platform game junky like I am, you should be headed to the App Store already.
If you’ve played anything like Super Mario Bros. before, then you’ve played the Giana Sisters, which is a big part of its charm. You’ll have to conquer 80 levels of making it from point A to point B, running, jumping and shooting at things all along the way. You start off the game as the “good” sister, who can do all your normal things like run and jump (both over things and on some monsters’ heads). There are special blocks that she can bump with her head, some of which give off one or more coins with repeated hits, and others which yield the almighty ball of chewing gum.
When consumed this transforms you into “punk” Giana, and that’s when the fun begins. In addition to everything good Giana can do, punk Giana can break bricks with her head. Many of them will go away, but some will form “ladders” to help get you to higher places. Additionally, punk Giana can shoot fire balls from her hand. This helps you defeat monsters that you can’t jump on or that are easier to take out from a bit of a distance. Now if any of this is sounding like the female version of Super Mario Bros. I completely understand.
Along the way there are blue gems and red gems to collect. The blue gems come in small and large, small denoting 1 gem and large 10 gems. Once you’ve collected 100 gems you earn an extra life. Extra lives come in real handy, though thankfully once you’ve lost them all you simply start back at the first uncompleted level with a score of zero. That’s much better than the alternative of having to start the whole game over again. So now back to the gems – there are also a certain number of red gems on each level. If you collect all the red gems for a given world you’ll unlock a bonus level in that world. So far I’ve only seen the bonus level for world one, but it was full of blue gems, and when played right easily netted me at least two extra lives.
There is certainly an interesting array of creatures to combat in Giana Sisters. So far I’ve come across anything from a weird thing that looks mostly like an owl to a blob type critter made of water. I like the variety, but it would be great if their attacks were more varied – or if they attacked at all. Most are only aggressive in the sense that they’ll keep moving even if it means falling off of a platform or something, and there are a few that can’t be killed simply by bouncing on them. However, so far I’ve only had one creature actually try and truly attack me. Now I’m not looking for Mega-man level of difficulty, but a little more challenge that doesn’t involve the repeated tumbling off of certain platforms would be great.
If this game has one downfall it’s the controls. The “classic” scheme uses a left and right button right next to each other on one side of the screen and jump and fire buttons next to each other on the opposite side. You can swipe up and down anywhere in the middle to look up or down. This is my preferred control scheme, but they either need to make the jump and fire buttons bigger or widen the field of contact around them. Quite often I think I’m hitting the buttons and apparently I’m not, because instead of defeating something I’m winding up dead. The other control scheme is actually quite interesting, as the left and right buttons moonlight as jump buttons. Whichever direction you’re moving, the other button jumps. A nifty innovation, but it never quite felt comfortable to me. In this scheme you use the top half of the screen for looking up and down, and the bottom half for firing.
3D certainly has its place, and there are some platform games that pull it off quite well (the Duke Nukem one that came out for the PC a few years back, for example). However, I’ll take good old fashion pixel art any day, and Giana Sisters offers it up in abundance. The characters look great, they animate well, and the death sequences for each of the critters are cool. My favorite creature so far is the owl like thing because on occasion it will look towards the screen and emit a cackling type sound. The backgrounds are also nicely rendered and full of details. The only thing that could be a bit better is having the jump and fire buttons stick out more when using the classic control scheme. They often blend into the background which is bad when you need them in a hurry.
Overall the sound effects compliment the atmosphere nicely, though by far the best part of the effects is the creature noises. And, just like with the visuals, my favorite so far is the owl like creature. I don’t know what it is about that thing, but I can’t help cracking a smile every time it turns toward the screen and squawks. Ah, the simple things in life. The music is also very nicely done, and it seems like there are several different tracks, though obviously not one for each level. At least they try to have some variety so you don’t get bored with the tunes, and so far I haven’t.
If I had one major gripe with this game I’d say it was the controls. Quite often that might even be enough for me to be done with the game. In the case of Giana Sisters, however, I’ve had so much fun with the game that I’m willing to look past my issues with the control schemes. I’ve really been looking forward to some strong platform games hitting the iPhone screen, and so far I’d say Giana Sisters is one of the best. If this still hasn’t convinced you to get this game, maybe you should give up platform gaming and go play solitaire or something.
Overall Score: 9/10
App Store Link
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