Hop Shot: Review

Review

Gameplay 82%

Hop Shot is an Infinite Jumper game where the objective is to reach the longest distance possible by jumping on platforms. At first you control a bird, and in order to take a leap, you touch the screen below it, in the opposite direction of where you want it to jump. So, if you want to jump straight forward, touch the screen right behind the bird. If you can to jump a little bit to the right, touch the screen a little bit to the left.   When you touch the screen, a crosshair appears and starts moving up. When you release your finger, the bird will jump and land just when the crosshair was. If the angle of the crosshair wasn’t right for you, wait until it leaves the screen, and you can attemp another jump. Also, if you just tap the screen, the crosshair will appear and disappear, without a jump being attemped. You collect coins in your way by landing on golden platforms, and some give you 5 coins. Also, there are moving platforms where you have to time your jumps. Some move following a side to side pattern, and some follow a circular line. Overall is a simple to learn, but hard to master game. Even reaching just 20 platforms should be enough of a challenge for most players.

Graphics 98%

Hop Shot features nice looking pixel art, but not quite 8-Bit or clocky like some titles. Characters and elements of the level are detailed and always moving around. The stage looks bight and colorful, and the sea is animated, with a subtle ocean wave represented with zig-zag shades of blue. In the levels, from time to time birds fly above you, and you also get to see the cloud being reflected in the water.   Even if most of what you see is water and platforms, it has nice details to give it some variety. There stages have 3 different themes: Forest, Beach and Artic, and as an added bonus, the music changes a little giving the beach a reggae tune, and the artic some jingle bells. Also, there are 30 characters to unlock, each one with the same style of the bird, but they all really represent their animal in a cutesy round pixelated shape.

Production Quality (90%)

There are many Infinite Jumpers in the same style as Hop shot in the App Store, but most are not as well made. The gameplay here works great, and even if you just touch and release your finger, the game mechanics work great, and after reaching a certain distance it gets really challenging to land on the moving platforms.   As mentioned before, the music has a distintive tune depending on the stage’s setting, so do the sound effects. It sounds different landing on a coin, an island with grass, sand or a wooden platform. They’re little details, but really add to the overall experience. Finally, to get a new character there’s a card minigame. You get a set of 9 cards face down, and you pick which ones to turn over. When 3 match, you get that character. It can be an animal usually found on the zoo, the artic, the forest, a house backyard, or a home pet.

Value for your Money (100%)

Hop Shot is free to download. There are in-app transactions to get in game coins that unlock new characters, but they’re not necessary to enjoy the game to the fullest. You will see advertising from time to time, but it’s not really something to complain about, and you can get rid of them buying the No Ads version in the game’s shop for less than a buck. For a really addictive and well made game like this one, it’s worth it.

Launch Video

Summary

Hop Shot is perfect for casual players. Simple controls, addictive gameplays, arcade record breaking style with cute round pixel art. Recommended for those looking for a little pick-up-and-play app, it should keep you entertained for a while. Pros

• Many characters to unlock
• Variety in Music and Backgrounds
• Nice Addictive Gameplay with Simple Controls

Cons

• It could’ve use additional challenges in the levels.

App Guru Rating 92%