If we?ve come to expect anything from iOS game development, it?s to expect the unexpected. In the past year, we?ve seen birds flung from slingshots, some amazing augmented reality experiences and almost anything else that could be imagined for Apple?s iOS-based devices. But times are gotten weirder.
Papa Sangre by Somethin? Else may be about the strangest game you?ll play this year. Built entirely around the concept of sound, with an incredibly simple visual interface (just a directional wheel and two foot icons to use to walk in that direction), the game places you in a series of scenarios where you?ll have to escape from various rooms using only the acoustic information available to you.
In the most common instance, your goal will be to escape the room by rotating the directional wheel, locating the sound of a musical note you need to collect and walking towards it while avoiding a roaming monster that grunts loudly and is only too happy to eat you. There is assistance in the form of a guiding voice that?ll tell you what the goals for each level are but beyond this, the sounds you hear are the only information available to you.
That being said, here are some tips, tricks and somewhat-sensible-advice for mastering one of the strangest games yet for the iPad:
Find a Quiet Room
Unlike the majority of games available for the iPad, Papa Sangre isn?t something you can pull out in the middle of a coffee shop and begin working on (a la ?Angry Birds? or ?Plants Versus Zombies?). Try to find a completely quiet room, plug in a pair of headphones and go to work. Every sound is important in this game and will require your complete attention so find a quiet nook and see what you can do with it.
Get Desensitized
This isn?t the most pleasant advice but it comes in handy. Wander into the roaming monster(s) at least once and you?ll hear what can best be described as the most grizzly video game death ever, complete with your character screaming at the top of their lungs. Get used to this, as you?ll be hearing it a lot and try to laugh it off. It?s pretty jarring but the sooner you get used to it, the less hesitant you?ll be in your approach to the game.
Don?t Trip
If your teachers ever told you not to run down the halls in school, they probably did it for a reason. Remember to control your pacing in Papa Sangre and no matter how nervous you might be at a given moment, you?ll only make things worse if you run too quickly, trip and give the monsters in each level an opening in which to devour you.
No one likes being devoured by an angry pig demon, so take your time (even if it sounds like the thing is only two feet away and breathing heavily) and you?ll get out in one piece.
Stop for Directions
Unlike a fair number of automated guides in video games which prove more annoying than helpful, the guide in Papa Sangre is worth stopping and listening to. When in doubt, do exactly that and pause in the middle of the level to hear what your obstacles and goals. Also remember that there are no time limits within the levels, so feel free to stop, move the directional wheel around and get your bearings as to the sounds around you.
Enjoy Yourself
Finally, relax and have fun with the game. Granted, Papa Sangre embodies a certain creepiness within its Cinco de Mayo/land of the dead theme and the developers apparently decided to make a game out of being stuck in a dark room with something that wants to eat your and almost no way out (a.k.a., an iOS version of ?Zork?), but it?s still an interesting idea. Take it for what it is and despite the horrible crunching noises you make when being eaten, it still feels amazing to find your way out of the room and on to the next level.
Papa Sangre [iTunes link] retails for $6.99 on the App Store and requires iOS 4.0 or later to install and run.
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