Aliens are on the loose and they’re attacking your precious cattle.
What is it?
Cows vs Aliens, $1.19, iPhone. When it comes to controlling a game on my iPhone, precision is not a strong suit. That’s why I love Cows vs Aliens. The premise is simple: herd your cows into your barn without letting any pesky extraterrestrials in. You can get by using two thumbs, scooting the cows and aliens along in various directions, but as their numbers start to increase, you’re probably gonna wanna try out more fingers (up to five on the iPhone; up to 11 on the iPad [use yer nose?] ).
Who’s it good for?
People who like the lighter side of alien invasions; people who like saving endangered wildlife; people whose favourite verb as it relates to controlling games is “mash”.
Why’s it better than alternatives?
It’s one of those games that you can hand to anyone and they’ll be able to figure out what to do pretty much straight away—the game is a simple one, but gets challenging quick. The animations nice, as are the sound effects, and pushing a cow to safety reliably results in a satisfying “ding” of the cowbell.
How could it be even better?
Sometimes the physics of pushing the cows feels a bit clunky, and I can’t help but imagine that it’d be satisfying to let them slide in the mud a bit after each nudge. Also, though it is fun, the gameplay is a bit one-note.
Cows vs Aliens, iPhone [iTunes]
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Video music: Kevin MacLeod