iOS App Review: Piclings

Piclings [Free] from Pan Vision Games is a pretty interesting take on augmented reality in gaming. Sure, it’s a simple platforming game, but the main draw here, is that you can take any picture and turn it into a playable level filled with coins, items, and enemies. The tech works surprisingly well, and it’s undeniably fun to think of new and silly pictures to create levels from. However, the underlying gameplay mechanics are simple at best, and prove to be the games biggest downfall.

The game includes 7 levels to play including a tutorial which walks you through the basic controls. A touch anywhere directional stick moves you character left and right, and you can float like a helicopter in the air for a limited time by pushing up. The floating mechanic is pretty awkward to use, a standard 'jump' ability would have been much more welcome. Tapping anywhere on the screen will drop the Picling through the surface he’s currently standing on and down to the next.



There are a couple of enemies, and the only way to kill them is by luring the follower into another enemy, killing them both, or by grabbing an invincibility butterfly that lets you kill every enemy that you touch. It doesn't work well, and I found myself simply taking my time and collecting the coins to finish the level.

Scott Pilgrim and the Picling on his hair

Mario! Genius

Marvel Piclings

Dan's Iron Maiden gig; the perfect level

Dan, stop Picling your nose (geddit? I'll see myself out...)

In addition to the 7 included levels, you can also import any picture from your device or use a picture taken directly from the camera to create a new level. Piclings will intelligently determine what parts of the picture act as walkable surfaces. You can also go into any created level and edit your own surfaces in or out in order to get the level just how you want it. Enemies, coins, and special items are also automatically placed in your created level.

The level creation is where Piclings really stands out. Basically, if you've got a picture on your iPhone (or iPod, iPad), then you can make a level out of it. You can also share your created levels, though this is only by way of emailing your photo to someone so they can save it to their device and use it in their copy of the game.

Taking Piclings as strictly a platforming game, it’s a fairly weak offering. The control mechanics are poor, and there isn't much to do in the game.

Despite this, Piclings is still a lot of fun based solely on the ability to create your own levels, and as it's free, you can't ask for more than fun.

Buy it from iTunes