Developer: GAMEVIL Inc. Price: Free
Version Reviewed: 1.0
Device Reviewed On: iPhone 4S
Players familiar with the Gamevil lineup of casual games will likely be acquainted with Air Penguin, the game of arctic jumping and bouncing where players help an especially hyperactive and agile penguin jump from ice chunk to ice chunk avoiding various dangers and predators on the way. The feathery little daredevil from this title makes an appearance in one of Gamevil’s newest casual titles; and as games go, this title is very casual. It’s really a stretch to call Talking Air Penguin a game when it is really more of an entertainment app for those idle moments when someone just needs a distraction. Still, Talking Air Penguin does share some game-like elements with its sister title, Air Penguin.
In Talking Air Penguin users interact in several different ways with the cute, blue hero from the Air Penguin game. Users can swipe and tap the screen in different ways to see how their penguin reacts; sometimes twirling, sometimes squawking, sometimes jumping straight up in the air. It’s this jumping that shares the closest ties with the actual Air Penguin game, not that they player has any direct control over how the penguin will land. There is a mini game that the user can activate in which they try to fling orange fish to the hungry penguin. While it may sound like a very simple game, it is much harder than it appears. Getting the flick of the finger just right in order to lob a fish directly onto the penguin’s floating block of ice is near impossible.
Finally, true to its name, the penguin in Talking Air Penguin talks. When the player talks out loud (or makes any sound picked up by the device’s microphone) the penguin will listen and then repeat that sound or phrase back in a slightly higher pitch. It’s very similar to other “talking” apps like Talking Tom or Talking Carl.
As cold as it may be on a block of floating ice, Talking Air Penguin is certainly not the freshest or coolest new game/app out there, but for fans of the Air Penguin games it is a fun little app to waste some time with. The price is certainly right.