Hundreds, you had me at a screenshot: crisp, sleak and minimalist. You jumped at me. The first thing I read about Hundreds said : "Sometimes a game can be sold on the mere mention of its creators alone. Hundreds, a new iOS puzzler released earlier this week, has Adam Saltsman (Canabalt) and Greg Wohlwend (Puzzlejuice) behind it."
I was sold.
Perhaps you don't know these names, Adam Saltman is a man who's brain seems to be overflowing with game ideas and is responsible for Canabalt, which gave birth to the "endless runner" genre. I have been playing another game called "Capsule" of his and didn't even know it (more on that later), check out his page for the vast swath of creativity. Greg Wohlwend is the brilliant artist behind Puzzlejuice, a game that I bought only because the colour palette was soo good and Ridiculous Fishing, a game that has such a striking graphical design that I find myself constantly taking screenshots while playing.
RED = DEAD
That's all you need to know about Hundreds, actually, you don't even need to know that, you'd find that out in about 4 seconds. This game doesn't need tutorials, it doesn't need to explain. As you play you learn, as you learn it throws more obstacles an abilities at you and then you learn some more - now repeat. It's the basic concept of almost every game! That's the genius, it's like abstract art, filtering down and stripping away the subject until the abstract essence is left: the core - that's what you get. That's Hundreds. At the beginning you'll think, 'Oh this will be a nice zen-style game' and by level 40 you'll be frantically playing multi-touch-finger-twister trying to get those circles to swell, others to shrink, some to freeze, some or bounce or pop - you'll get to 97 and the screen freezes and goes red...mocking you and yet encouraging you - like the perfectly spoken "Again" in Terry Cavanagh's Super Hexagon, you hate to hear it, but it spurs you on.
TheAtlantic.com called Hundreds the "Haute Couture of Video Games" and "a video game that you can imagine James Bond playing." The game is simply sexy, reduced and locked-in, Hundreds is something that 'non-gamers' can appreciate. There are no elves or aliens, no guns or voluptuous bikini-toting blade-wielding manga chicks, simply an abstract art style that is sure to turn heads and attract new players.
The iPad has it's definitive console specific game, this is the Mario Bros., the Sonic, the Halo, the Resident Evil of tablets - and if you play on one you need this game.
Greg Wohlwend : http://aeiowu.com/
Adam Saltman : http://adamatomic.com/
Play Greg Wohlwend's original Flash Version here.
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