Review: Trigger Happy Christmas – The Elves have been bad this year…

Review: Trigger Happy Christmas – M.J.

Developer: Games Faction Ltd.

Current price: 0.99

Rating: (4/5)

   Trigger Happy Christmas, developed by Games Faction Ltd (the very same developers that brought us the tantalizing Inkvaders) isn’t like anything else I’ve encountered on the AppStore. With cartoon like graphics, gruesome gameplay, and unique concept, Trigger Happy Christmas is a blast to play.

   In Trigger Happy Christmas, the elves have turned to the dark side and begun a revolution. Stealing presents and hot-wiring Santa’s sleigh, their focus is to kill Santa and ruin Christmas for millions. Thankfully, Santa’s prepared for this. Teaming up with Rudolph, you plan to take back your sleigh and presents, destroying anyone and everyone who gets in your way. The result is not pretty.

   The game consists of one level where you walk back and forth, picking up presents and blasting elves into sticky red puddles. Once you’ve managed to collect and stack five presents you receive a score bonus and the teleport machine transfers them to an unknown location. Stray too far from your teleporter and the presents you’ve collected will be snatched away by greedy elves once again.

   The longer you survive, the faster and tougher the elves get. Thankfully, you’ve got help. While trying to get the sleigh under control again, Rudolph throws presents and other goodies to aide you including; flamethrowers, grenade launchers, machine guns and powerups. The powerups provide bonuses such as double damage and invulnerability.

   The game has a built in Christmas card function where you can email pre-made greeting cards to your friends. Like the rest of the game, the pictures you can choose from are really funny and comical to look at, and are a perfect way to show all your friends and family how ruthless and sadistic you are this holiday season.

  The graphics in the game have a cartoon like feel which is similar yet distinct from Inkvaders, which bore the resemblance of something completely drawn on paper. Games Faction did a great job with the art and animations in Inkvaders, and Trigger Happy Christmas shares that same level of quality.

   Leaderboards and achievements are plugged in as well to help counter the simplistic gameplay, which could use some variety. While these do help I really would have liked to see some more creative gun contraptions to play with or even a shop where you could exchange candy canes for powerups, weapons and defenses (like sentry guns or trip mines).

   Despite the limited gameplay, I couldn’t help but keep playing the game. Trigger Happy Christmas shares the addictive “one more try” nature of games such as Doodle Jump or Harbor Master. I never knew blasting elves could be so much fun! If you enjoy the side-scrolling genre, and the prospect of a blood-soaked Christmas appeals to you, then you should waste no time to check this out.

Overview:

-Bare-boned gameplay; needs more variety.

-No save function.

+Addicting and polished gameplay.

+Sadistically beautiful and comedic graphics.

Rating: (4/5)