Clowning Around

I was first introduced to Clowning Around on my iPad and was pleased to see it make the jump to Android. It looks like they did a pretty good job on the conversion, too. This is among the few games that my five year old loves and, given that I'm a bit surprised that she's not more into games considering my massive collection, I am always grateful to a publisher that can capture her attention such that she actually ASKS to play it again. Notable flops include Kinectimals and I'm still puzzled over that as it's a solid game, but I digress.

Clowning Around is clearly one-upsmanship on Cut the Rope. Instead of candy, you've got clowns. Instead of a monster waiting to eat the candy, you've got barrels that the clowns are trying to land in as a part of their act. Then you have various pieces of circus equipment such as platforms, trampolines, cannons, and, of course, chains that need to be cut in the proper sequence with the proper timing to allow everyone to reach their intended destination in a timely manner. I should also note that levels can include multiple clowns of different colors and each clown must land in a like colored barrel.

Is this better than Cut the Rope? No. I think it's equivalent. The tutorial is well done and progression is smooth. And, yes, my five year old loves Cut the Rope, too. At the time she'd play whichever was available (i.e. on the device I wasn't using) as I had Cut the Rope on my Android tablet and Clowning Around on the iPad. Now, it doesn't matter... they're on both. And they're both excellent games. Looking for something like Cut the Rope, but want some new challenges? You'll be in heaven. Love circus music? Well, you'll be treated to a nice musical score while the game gets started.

The graphics in this game are good. The clowns are more like 'clown balls' as the clowns are rolled up in the balls as they acrobatically drop and bounce into their water filled buckets. As each one arrives you'll be treated to a nice 'ta da' style bow. Another nice difference with this game is that there's a physics element as the clowns will bounce and roll to their destinations in addition to just dropping. Sound effects are solid and, just like Cut the Rope, touch screen swipes are all that you need to play although admittedly I've had a glitch here and there with that that I hadn't encountered with the iPad version more than once. However, when I would test it to try and prove a problem I could never do so therefore I have to conclude that perhaps the glitch is with me.

Clowning Around is some solid circus fun and that's coming from a guy that's scared of clowns (yes, me and Cosmo [wonder how many will get that reference]). It's available in both a paid, ad free format and a free ad supported format although the ads are unobtrusive. 4/5 stars.