The APPera

If you own an iPhone or an iPod Touch (or iPouch to some, LOL Pablo!), you know who Illusion Labs peeps are…. You don’t? Well gheez! They made Labyrinth aka one of the best show off apps ever! Let’s see if the follow up game holds up…

Touchgrind ($4.99)

We’d rather spoil you know… Touchgrind is another great Illusion Labs title. It comes equipped with innovative controls, stunning 3D graphics and awesome physics which made Labyrinth one of the most popular apps to date. It oozes with innovation and quite frankly, the control + the graphics provide liquid smooth framerate which stuns us.

Duude, iCanSkate On My iPhone! Although it doesn’t quite necessarily feature uphills and downhills like the famous skateboarding game (Skate), the game comes with rails and ramps, and a full slew of tricks… more than enough to tag it Skate for iPhone. The control is pretty simple and reflects how you would a fingerboard (see here). You use your middle and pointing finger to control the board. Release a finger and do a jump. As with fingerboards, Touchgrind requires some practice. Combining tricks is obviously the most difficult to master. The help page does a good job of explaining how to perform these skills through the use of instructional videos: Features The game features loads of different boards. You unlock one every time you reach a certain number of points to end a level. The way of selecting boards is pretty snazzy as well: As you move around the playground, Touchgrind gives you little object balloons around the board to show you which objects are around the area.

You can also do an overview of the map just in case you want an overall knowledge of where the ramps and rails are. What you do is tap on the little magnifying glass at the bottom right of the screen. As you play the game, you’ll realize this feature is extremely important. Moving Forward We feel that the game is a sampler of a bigger mammoth that will rely on the same engine. We can think of dozens of different directions Illusion Labs can take  Touchgrind to. In all honesty, we don’t think we need to worry as a little birdy told us that “it will see an update the store has never seen before”. Yes, the difficulty and the way you unlock the levels doesn’t really equate as it should. The boards are very easy to be unlocked. We hope that future updates include more boards and harder ways of unlocking them. Maybe have the gamer perform a slew of tricks back to back within a given time. Customization however is probably the best update the game can get. We hope that we would be able to change gears and boards to make the board smoother. Maybe grade the parts into strength, accessibility etc. Overall, the game is another killer game. It features true physics and graphics that is untouchable at the store. For $4.99 or half of what a fingerboard might cost you, you’ll see yourself practicing skills while on the john or leaving work/school early. LOL. More Screenshots (As If We Didn’t Provide You Enough Already):

Related posts:

1. Preview: Touchgrind 1.2 Adds Board Customizer
2. Labyrinth 2 Demo’d On “BigPad”, iPhone Version Updated!
3. Vans SK8 Pool Service: Finally! A 3D Skate Game
4. Sway: Swingin’ Awesomeness Your Way
5. Skate It iPhone: EA Mobile Gets Skating And Grinding, Soon!