Gametrender

30 Minutes or Less : A fun few minutes

   Adaptative Elite, an indie developer, just started crowfunding an app they are working on for iOS. Titled "30 Minutes or Less", at the moment, it's a tutorial, a demo, and a proof of conceit all rolled in one. My personal feeling: it works. I can picture myself playing a quick session while waiting for the bus.

   You control a delivery car from the restaurant and to the delivery points by clicking on the screen, which put the car into motion. Right now, on PC with the mouse, it is pretty fun to play and you can pretty envision how it'll play on iOS; I can actually picture it on DS with the stylus, or on Wii with the wheel, or on Vita with the back touchscreen; the control scheme is so simple. It can be ported to about any of the current platforms.

   The control are just the tip of the iceberg; I tend to prefer colorful games reminiscent of the 16-bit era and 30 minutes or Less delivers in that regards. To complement this, the animations plays up the comedy effect, most notably by giving the collisions and occasional stunt a lot of weight. Similarly, the sound effects of crunched metal gives a immediacy to the accident. On the other hand, the music is pretty bland at the moment.

   “At the moment” is really the word to remember. The game is fun as is, and there is a lot of potential for quirky items, powerful level-ups, and player progression; multiplayer modes, as well, are easy to dream up. I believe AdaptivElite has a very sound concept and what it takes to make it a reality. And don't just take my word for it: in 30 minutes or much less indeed, you can download and test this game, to maybe donate and help fund this indie game.