BADLAND is an original platform game that won the 2012 Game Connection Europe Best Project Award and the Apple 2013 Design Award.

What's so special about BADLAND? Mainly the game's visuals and settings, expertly created with dark graphics and a colorful foreground and background that hide surprises and more challenges for advanced players.

The darkness hides danger

In BADLAND, there's a cute little two-legged/winged fuzzball flying around that moves when you press the screen, letting you shoot at everything it encounters. Danger is everywhere, and the fact that you're playing in the dark makes things more interesting and challenging.

While flying along, all sorts of nasties will try to thwart your efforts. Some will slow you down, while others might catapult you forward. Along with this, there are small glowing blobs which will cause your character to either grow or shrink in size. In a departure from other remotely similar games, you aren't told what you're supposed to do. There's no background story, not even a word of instruction about what the various objects are.

Playing with intuition

In BADLAND, learning to play requires intuition on your part. Since this is an Android game, you'll probably start tapping the screen, and that's when you'll discover that each touch makes your little fuzzball soar. It's only when you pause the game that you'll spot brief instructions or hints.

Still, right from the get-go, you'll find that BADLAND is easy to play and lots of fun. And if you fail to keep up, you'll immediately respawn at the previous checkpoint so you don't have to start the game over.

A virtual forest

BADLAND draws attention from the moment the on-screen protagonist appears. At a graphic level, its designers have been careful and have managed to create a unique space that doesn't get old, thanks to its unpredictable and changing nature.

One thing we appreciate in BADLAND is the absence of tiresome or repetitive music which is too often present in this type of game. In addition, the variety of levels curbs the monotony of similar titles that seem endless.

Verdict

If you want to be surprised by a game that has a simple principle but lots of hidden secrets, BADLAND is a great choice. It looks awesome and, not for nothing, has won awards as a result.

Successive BADLAND updates add new levels to expand the gaming experience with new challenges that will improve your score.