Remember the good old days when arcade games were a huge rage among teenagers? Those times were pure bliss! Games have come a long way since then with advanced graphics and realistic sounds; but when a game with a retro feel comes along on the iPhone platform, it manages to evoke the nostalgia. Coins! brings the feel of an arcade-style game with age-old graphics and sound effects to the App Store.

Arcade Style Gaming Personified

I was a bit skeptical when I first saw the app, but after I launched the app and completed the first level, I had a big fat smile on my face! I couldn’t help but flashback on the childhood memories of playing arcade games in a game parlor. The developer has done a great job of imitating an arcade game with not only the graphics but also the sound effects.

Right from the splash screen to the menu interface to the background images used in each level; all have a striking semblance to arcade-style games. Even the font used reminds you of the long bygone era. Interface has been kept extremely simple listing four levels at a time. Enough of bantering, let the action begin!

Insert the Coin, Tap the Screen

Coins! is a physics-based game having pachinko-style¹ gameplay. Tap to fire the ball from the slot and collect coins that are disturbed by it on it’s way to the bottom; coins collected are converted to cash. New levels can be unlocked using the money collected in the previous levels. A bit of strategy pooled with luck is all you need to rack up the cash.

The game features a total of 20 levels with each level bringing in an element of surprise to keep the gameplay exciting. The 8-bit era graphics feel created pixel by pixel, as claimed by the developer, is the best part about the game. Without the “cool” graphics, Coins! would have been just another ordinary app.

Coins! is not bug free, enabling sound slows down the gameplay considerably. In my case, the frame rate dropped drastically to the point where it become excruciatingly painful to bear with the slow movement of the ball and the coins. All’s well till the last level “Finale”, where the ball gets hung up between the barriers holding up the game, leaving you with no option but to quit to menu. Developer Max Williams has promised a slew of changes in the new version to be released on the App Store sometime this month. These changes include graphical improvements, exciting new levels, improved performance and bug fixes among others.

Coins: Worth Every Penny

I would recommend Coins! [iTunes link] to anyone who likes apps such as Peggle, Block Breaker Deluxe among various other similar apps available on App Store. If you haven’t tried any of the arcade-style apps mentioned in this article but share strong affinity towards arcade games like me, then you should definitely give Coins! a spin, for it’s totally worth the dollar spent.

[Header image via Flickr, credits to Loren Radis ]

Tagged as: app store, Arcade, Coins, Games