Review: Unpossible
A twisted classic
In recent years, a new style of game has emerged and found a home on iOS. These games are defined by a clean aesthetic, straightforward objectives, and gameplay that is both simple to understand and rewardingly difficult. Modern classics like Super Hexagon, Impossible Road, Canabalt – even the infamous Flappy Bird – all represent this growing wave of simple games that aren’t afraid to be difficult.
These games buck the trend towards ultra-casual. They test your reflexes and your skill by presenting a high level of difficulty. They are accessible to the casual gamer, but they do not pander. They are straightforward in design, but unapologetically challenging. Unpossible builds on this style, but with an identity completely it’s own.
Unpossible is beautifully simple in it’s conception. You constantly move forward on a twisting tube covered in obstacles. Your job is to rotate around the tube to dodge those obstacles. The objective is straightforward enough, but as with most games of this style, Unpossible’s success depends on how well it executes on its design. Luckily, that execution is about as perfect as you can imagine.
The first time you play the easiest difficulty, you will die. Quickly. The next several times you play, you’ll die again within seconds. But that will be okay. The deaths will always feel avoidable, never cheap. You’ll reach for the continue button without thinking about it, eager to make it further, to make it through the obstacle that slipped you up. You’ll get better, slowly, over the course of many playthroughs. You’ll feel that adrenaline rush each time you make it past your previous high score, and hit that continue button as fast as possible when you inevitably crash again.
Unpossible has “it” – that elusive quality of design that makes you want to hit that continue button, over and over again, until you realize you’ve spent the past hour playing such a seemingly simple game, without a hint of boredom or frustration. That feeling is worth everything – it makes the difference between games that are classics and games that are forgettable. Unpossible has it in spades; this is a tough game to put down.
The levels are divided into 3 difficulty modes – Simplicity, Futile, and Ultra. Simplicity starts unlocked, with the more challenging difficulties made available after you survive 60 seconds in each of the easier difficulties. Rounding out the traditional levels are special “daily” levels. These have layouts that change every day, and feature independent leaderboards to compete on.
The leaderboards make Unpossible even better. Unpossible is completely a test of skill – every obstacle is avoidable if your reflexes are quick enough. Nothing prevents you from surviving forever. You won’t survive forever, but you might just survive longer than the rest of the people playing any given level. Once you get the hang of the controls, competing for that goal adds an extra dimension to the game.
Controller support in Unpossible is implemented quite well, though the sheer difficulty of the game really drives home some of the limitations of the current crop of MFi controllers. The lack of analog sticks on the PowerShell makes the type of fine-grain control necessary for the difficult levels somewhat challenging to pull off. The relative looseness of the analog nubs on the Moga Ace Power is more apparent in Unpossible than anywhere else. The SteelSeries Stratus works the best of the available controllers – its surprisingly solid analog sticks do a great job at registering even the finest grain movement.
Unpossible also permits the use of on-screen movement controls and tilt control. The on-screen buttons won’t be much good beyond the easiest difficulty, but the tilt controls are quite excellent, and give the MFi controllers a run for their money.
In terms of monetization, Unpossible is fairly straightforward. You pay two dollars, you get the game. There are no timers, ads, in-app purchases. You can’t buy your way out of Unpossible’s inherent challenge – everyone is in the same boat.
Thoughts From Other Reviewers
A couple of the owners of other iOS gaming sites and I decided to try something a little different with this review: rather than duplicating our efforts completely in writing three separate-yet-similar reviews, we’ve opted to share some resources between our reviews and cross-link each other.
Mfigamer Says:
Unpossible is played with easy to learn controls with options for touch, tilt and external MFi game controllers. Each control scheme is designed so the controls get out of your way. You’ll feel at one with the game allowing you to focus on your reactions and dodging skills.
The video was provided by Mfigamer at mfi4.gamerz.com, a forum dedicated to news and reviews related to MFi controller compatible games and hardware. He does great work chronicling the iOS gaming scene, and it was fun collaborating and discussing this this game together.
Conclusion
Unpossible’s asking price is more than fair for the quality of the game you get. For anyone who is a fan of this sort of beautifully simple, challenging, and addicting game that iOS seems to excel so well at, don’t think twice about giving this one a download.