Gravity Hook HD

This morning I downloaded Semi Secret Software's latest offering for iGadgets, Gravity Hook HD. I hadn't played the free Flash version of the game, so I was pretty much going in sight unseen. Still, coming from the creators of Canabalt, I was eager to see what new challenges they had cooked up. I made the right choice.

In Gravity Hook you are a robot (or a man in a hazard suit - make up your own fiction) who must climb up from the bottom of a mine shaft. To do this, you must hook onto different types of floating objects that are placed randomly throughout the level. You can hook onto an object with a single tap, and you make your way up by transitioning between floating objects. Fall below the edge of the screen, and you explode. Hang too long on a mine, and you explode. Every few hundred meters a trap door will close behind you, allowing you to take a quick break, but like Canabalt, the game only ends when you make a mistake and explode.

Everything comes together kind of like a cross between Doodle Jump and Hook Champ. The graphics are crisp and everything has a pretty comfortable size and layout on iPhone. The soundtrack gives a nice ambiance and like usual, headphones are recommended for maximum awesome. The single-tap controls are a breeze, but occasionally it felt like my finger was getting in the way of the action; I'm confident that on an iPad this is not an issue. This updated version of the game has four different objects to grapple, but you can also unlock and rock the old-school version after proving yourself by climbing 500 meters in HD.

Gravity Hook HD is a quick, addictive game that anyone can pick up and enjoy. With a little practice, failure, and more practice, you'll soon be climbing up the leaderboards. You can feel good for supporting an indie developer, too: Semi Secret's development team of four people is building a great track record. Gravity Hook is available now on the iTunes Store.

What I'm Playing

• Main Campaign: Gravity Hook HD
• Side Quest: Canabalt