Win an iPad 2 !!! Free to participate!

Left a 5 star review for this game. Remarkable as I hate to watch curling in real life on the Olympics. My girl and aunt like it though... lol.

 

Curl Your Enthusiasm

Curlington HD is undeniably the best looking Curling game on the app store. The graphics, lighting, and environments are all top-notch. One locale, for instance, is an icy landing strip shot at night, with an amber glow emanating from the nearby hangars as snow whips across the majestic landscape. It manages this feat without ever allowing the player to experience a hitch in performance, translating directly to a silky smooth framerate, which is vital to most any sports simulation. I bought the full version immediately.

My expectation, when purchasing a Curling app, is that it will have a single Curling Sheet upon which players enact a match, but this game provides three diverse locations to test your mettle. Not just your own, in fact, because up to four players can play on the same device. It also has a full-fledged single-player component that sports an AI that is no slouch either, at its highest level.

The controls for delivery of the stone are the most intuitive and appropriate to the platform that I have seen. They play to the strengths of the touch interface, instead of using a mechanical, UI-driven scheme. It feels natural to simply swipe your finger in a direction and then do minor course correcting to apply the curl. I will say, though, it feels like it offers more play in the stone that would normally be present. The benefits far outweigh the drawbacks, though, and it was the right decision. I wish I could say the same for sweeping.

I don't find the interface and controls for sweeping the stone's path to be entirely compelling. The sweeping feels a bit awkward, because it was implemented to only allow horizontal swipes directly in front of the rock in motion. I understand the goal here, but the way the brush touches down just feels imprecise and it is non-obvious at what point the brush is anchored to the swipes. On a multitouch surface such as this, it could have felt much more fluid, natural, and direct. Again, the controls are satisfactory and it's not a deal-breaker. It's just the one area where there may be room for improvement.

I was impressed by the fact that a full set of Curling rules and instructions were available that even includes a glossary. This may seem like a minor point, but because Curling has not caught on to a high degree here in the US, it is nice to have a clear understanding of how a game is meant to play out.

So the play options and feature set is quite broad, which should peak any Curling enthusiast's attention. It also hosts a wide range of features not squarely directed at the uber-fan. These take the form of over-the-top arcade-style features and there are quite a number of them. Each Curling locale has wildly different sheet length and gimmicks. Some include a ramp inset into the ice, for when you want that extra loft, and one mode called, "Shuffle Puck" even has the player chucking rocks out the cargo doors of an aircraft, in-flight, complete with a little parachute for your rock.

There is a huge selection of super-powered rocks, such as TNT, a Spycam, a Burning Rock that destroys opposing rocks nearby, a Castle Rock that turns into an immobile tower on the ice, a Clone Stone, a Heart Stone that converts neighboring stones to ally with your own, and quite a few others. Some are available from the start and others can be purchased with resources earned from repeated play. The player can also trade points for removal of on-ice obstacles or the addition of safeguard rails that keep your rock from shooting off the edge and off into the beautiful countryside.

In the original release of Curlington HD, the thematic direction was either a blessing or a curse, depending on what you wanted from a Curling game. Personally, I'm looking for a simulation and experience as close to live Curling as possible. When I first purchased the full version, I felt like the developers nailed many of the low-level features, but the high-level direction seemed at odds with that philosophy. This was evidenced by the aforementioned arcade-style features. I just wanted a normal sim, on a normal sheet, with a house at either end, with a normal curling stone. One of the elements that I appreciate is the purity of the sport; it's simply the control of the rock on the ice. Period.

This was not at all a criticism of their approach, because not everyone is looking for the same things in a game. Perhaps some people have played these games to death and are looking for something new. Maybe arcade-style features are just the thing to entice new players into the sport, who are unfamiliar with it. Some people may play the video game version to experience things they would not or could not do in the real sport. The inclusion of such features is obviously a great way to make your app stand out against a sea of competing titles.

Luckily, this tale has a storybook ending, because the developers listened to player feedback and within a month, they added a Simulation Mode which disables all of the ancillary features and delivers a more true-to-life experience. I feel it is important to acknowledge developers that are versatile enough to incorporate feedback from their player base and smart enough to do it without compromising their original vision. Operatio is one such developer.

While many people will recommend this app because of the flashy ice reflection (it is drop-dead gorgeous) or the atypical additions that contribute to the fun factor, it is not my reasoning. I recommend this app, because the developers are innovative, responsive, and talented and those are the qualities that have made Curlington HD the best Curling game in the app store and the best one I've ever played. Period. Full stop.

 

Great (and free to participate!) contest -- plus a fantastic game. Hope it's climbing the charts quickly!

 

Looks like an interesting game. I'll have to check it out and if I like it, I wouldn't have an issue buying the full app.

Thanks for the opportunity.