Physics games are always decidedly popular – there’s just something incredibly satisfying about using an in-built physics engine to jump around willy-nilly across the map. Hangline: The Adventure is the latest foray into this genre, putting you in the shoes of a hang gliding superhero who is determined to save the lives of all sorts of people trapped on mountains.
The gameplay is pretty simplistic; you swing yourself around different snow clumps, moving quickly from clump to clump towards the helpless civilians. There isn’t really any kind of danger or time limit – instead, the challenge comes from the occasional obstacle or deviant pathway that forces you to either choose right the first time, or swing back around for a second go if you chose incorrectly.
[sc name=”quote” text=”The chief problem with Hangline: The Adventure is that, once you have played the first few levels, you’ve essentially played them all.”]
Some clumps of snow can become dislodged, forcing you to try and save yourself on the nearest snow clump to avoid falling, but there never actually seems to be any real danger of dying – you just sort of… keep going.
In between levels you can get some items to make the levels a bit easier, such as pointing you in the direction of the nearest survivors, but once you finish trying them out for the first time, you learn that they actually cost real money to buy again. So you just never use them again – what is the point of them if you can’t even really use them? The chief problem with Hangline: The Adventure is that, once you have played the first few levels, you’ve essentially played them all.
[sc name=”quote” text=”There isn’t really any kind of danger or time limit – instead, the challenge comes from the occasional obstacle or deviant pathway that forces you to either choose right the first time, or swing back around for a second go if you chose incorrectly.”]
There’s no real incentive to really try anything different or experience any new kind of gameplay, as each level is as much the same as the others – lasso yourself around a mountain and pick up survivors or items. Some levels are a bit harder than others, due to falling snow clumps or rocks that can act as obstacles that you need to dislodge, but as soon as you learn how to deal with them, the threat completely disappears and they become trivial to play around.
Any decent physics engine game is going to have a terribly difficult time if the game doesn’t have anything other than its physics to fall back on. Without any other kind of complex gameplay mechanics, or in the very least a semi-decent story, there is no reason to keep playing once you have played for about five minutes.
Hangline: The Adventure had the potential to be so much more than a simplistic physics game with no long-lasting enjoyment, but without the inclusion of any kind of further gameplay mechanics, that is all it will ever be. Though the physics engine is pretty fun, that kind of joy can only last so long.
[review pros=”The physics engine is extremely enjoyable, up to a point. ” cons=”Though the physics engine is fun, there is nothing to actually keep you playing. A total lack of actual difficulty.” score=2.5]
[appbox appstore id1372005090]
[appbox googleplay id=com.yodo1.hanglinerescue&hl=en_US]
