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  Review: Litter Chaos

  Jayesh Limaye, Aug 19, 2011 2138 hrs IST

  A simple game with an important social message.

  Simplistic gameplay; Important social message; Soothing hand-painted graphics; Runs well on older hardware.

  Gets boring after a while; Lacks variety.

  Expert Rating :

  

  

Litter Chaos
Price: $ 0.99 (Rs 45 approx)
Current version: 1.0.2
Size: 14.1 MB
Developer: JAVIER RODRIGUEZ COS
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.2 or later.

Never in my life, did I imagine myself reviewing a game about collecting garbage, nor do I fancy myself reviewing one. However, Litter Chaos is one game that has changed my perception to some extent, and in a positive direction. Available on iTunes store for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, this is a seemingly simple game rated for 4+ year olds, though the just message it conveys is deeper and realistic enough for a player of any age. I was a little hesitant to review this game at the start, but decided to review it after I found that there is more to the game than the gameplay.

Litter Chaos.

Gameplay
As stated in the intro, you play a garbage or litter collector. Your task is to segregate the chaotic litter falling from the top of the screen and organize it into the different garbage bins according to the type of the litter. There are different categories of litter such as glass, paper, plastic, organic, etc. You have to use your fingers to drag the falling litter into the appropriate bin. Failing to put the litter into the appropriate bin will take you back to the start of the level and in the process, losing one of the three lives.

As the litter falls, you will be bothered by pesky ravens who try to steal the recycled waste. You can stop them by tapping them a few times until they fall to the ground. Of course, you also have to keep moving the litter into the bins as you are doing this or you risk losing one more life. As with most games, the first level can be played at a leisurely pace.

The first level is very easy to play.

As you progress to higher levels, the difficulty increases. The number of bins increases with more categories appearing at the bottom of the screen, thus increasing the complexity of the game. The number of ravens also increases to add to your woes. As if that is not enough, the gravity seems to increase, thus making the litter move faster towards the bottom of the screen than in the earlier levels, making it all the more difficult to take care of everything.

You have more bins to fill in higher levels.

The game does get monotonous after some time due to a lack of variety. Probably to remedy this, there are several power-ups to spice up the gameplay, as well as a few such as the radioactive isotopes disguised as power-ups, which can cost you one life and take you back to square one.

Power-ups help spice up the game a bit.

While there is no boss level, there are bonus rounds after every two levels, where your tapping skills will be challenged. These levels have ravens carrying diamonds and moving from bottom to top. You have to tap the ravens to get rid of them before they escape and then tap on the diamond to claim points.

Tap on the ravens and collect the diamonds.

The overall gameplay is smooth even on a three year old device such as the iPhone 3G. An overall darker, though not depressing shade has been used in every graphic in the game. That being said, the graphics are still well-done, artistic, and seem to be hand-painted, giving them a touch of elegance. The music is not too loud, though I preferred to play the game by turning it down because it doesn't really matter in this game. With Game Center support, you can compare your scores with friends and other players.

Verdict
Litter Chaos is an interesting and easy to play game with a deep social message of recycling your litter in a proper way. The gameplay is rudimentary at best, but the artistic graphics are well-done and soothing, with smooth animations even when playing on older hardware. The main purpose of this game is to educate the player about the importance of developing a habit to segregate domestic waste into categories such as glass, plastic, paper, organic waste, etc, to make it easier for recycling.

With over 6.5 billion people on our planet generating over 5 billion tons of garbage every year, the term "Recycling" suddenly assumes a higher importance. This is the message that this game tries to convey and in my opinion, it manages to do that loud and clear.

Gameplay And Design: 3/5
Graphics: 3.5/5
Sound: 3/5
Mojo: 4/5

Overall Rating: 3.5/5

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