The product: Stay Alight! (iPhone|iPad) is a destruction game that is somewhat similar to Angry Birds, but in this game, you play as Mr. Bulb and it's your job to take out the monster microbes.
Instead of flinging objects like you would in Angry Birds, with this game you're shooting an energy projectile that bounces off walls. So to get the best trajectory and power, you'll need to both think about where your targets are and how the projectile will bounce through the level to hit as many monster microbes as possible. Like many games in this genre, you can get as high as a 3-star rating for each level, but it's unclear in my testing what determines the rating.
As you progress, you'll get new kinds of bullets, with some that split into three separate projectiles and others that explode in a four-way shot when they run out of power. There isn't much explanation in the game for what each shot type is or why you get it, after a few games you will recognize the different types of bullets by the way they looked. Angry Birds players will remember that each bird was introduced so you knew how to use it. Stay Alight has no such introductions.
What it offers:
Despite the lack of information about several elements of the game, Stay Alight is pretty fun, with good-looking graphics, good audio, and realistic physics. With a little more info about the story and description of game elements, this could be very good game
The advantage:
Stay Alight! is a unique twist on Angry Birds type games, with good-looking graphics, excellent physics, and plenty of levels to challenge you.
The unfavorable:
With no introductions to anything, it's difficult to figure out what's going on, what the different bullet types do, and why you're building a puzzle.
The price:
$1.99
