Wow, it’s been a LONG time since I’ve seen The Princess Bride movie.  I don’t remember too much about it.  I know there were some funny lines and Andre the Giant was in it, but that’s about it.  I do know it’s since become a cult hit among fans, and I guess that’s why someone just now decided to make a game out of it.  The Princess Bride: The Official Game is a downloadable title for iOS devices, but reviewed on iPad here.

It’s just a collection of mini-games based on scenes from the movie.  In the first game, Shrieking Eels, you’ll have to protect the princess stranded in the water by tapping on eels before they reach her.  They come in waves and move in different patterns.  If they reach her, you lose the game.  In the second challenge, you’ll climb the “Cliffs of Insanity” while avoiding flying birds and falling rocks.  Tilt the device to move left and right, and tap on the screen to climb higher.  If you get hit by an obstacle, you’ll lose the game.

There are a couple of other games, too, unfortunately I can’t tell you about them because the other games were too darn hard.  In order to unlock games, you must collect stars by reaching certain goals. You may have to get a certain score or collect a certain number of coins.  Each game has five stars to challenge you.  Unfortunately, the games are very difficult.  You can use “Miracle Pills” to continue after you lose, but you only get five of them to start and can’t earn any more unless you buy them.  I went through my free Miracle Pills in less than five minutes!  I don’t see why they had to make the game so hard!

I did like the cartoony graphics.  It makes me wonder if a Princess Bride cartoon would’ve been a better idea instead.  You can buy more miracle pills or unlock all the games with real money, but the games weren’t fun enough for me to keep playing.  I guess if you’re a super big fan of the movie, you might like this game, but otherwise, it’s not very good.

Kid Factor:

The violence is only cartoony, and if you get hit by an obstacle or enemy, the scene just zips to a Game Over screen, so there are no grisly deaths or anything like that.  Reading skill is helpful for the instructions, but there are also picture cues and the games are pretty easy to figure out just by playing.  Younger gamers may get frustrated at the high difficulty level, though.  Parental supervision is recommended for the in-game purchases.

Tags: Game Reviews, Movies with Children