Simple Idea, Wonderful App

Volley (US$2.99) was an application, which initially, I did not expect too much from. What I quickly realised when I first began to use the app was even though there wasn't too much ground being broken in Volley (in terms of themes and gameplay goals) the app still managed to draw you in and make you play longer. Volley, which was designed by the great people at Tapelicious (the developer's blog can be found here), executes the idea of making a seemingly simple application deceptively thorough and addictive, perfectly. If only more apps would cut out some of their filler and replace it with useful and helpful features.

There are many applications out there in the app store (both free and paid) which attempt to use a relatively simple goal as the central purpose and then build on this goal to make the the application enjoyable and less theme-shallow. Few applications have done this as well as Volley. Volley is a simple volleyball game in which two dome-shaped characters square off in a battle, where the first player to six points wins. Volley is almost identical to the classic SlimeVolley. That does not mean that Volley is any less enjoyable or effective, it just signals that Tapelicious did not take too many risks during the production process and stuck to a tested and popular app design idea. Volley does have a few differentiating factors which help it stand apart from SlimeVolley, these include: much cleaner, crisper and overall much more immersive graphics, which include both the environment and the characters themselves. Another point of difference is the control mechanism. Volley uses a slider to control the character, rather than the 'out-dated' arrows of its competition.

Perhaps the best feature available in Volley is the almost perfectly set difficulty level as the user progresses through each stage. As the user clears stages they become progressively harder. During gameplay it is easy to see this rise in difficulty level as the old tricks that enable the user to complete previous stages are no longer sufficient and new tactics and skills must be learnt in order to continue progression through the stages. I have noticed that as each stage becomes more challenging your skills increase and this increase is easily visible. When I first began using Volley I wasn't very good at all. I had a lot of trouble completing the fifth level (why is it always number five?) because I wasn't changing the way in which I went about playing the game, while the AI player drastically changed their playing style. This forces the user to develop new ways of playing in order to become victorious. This forced changed may sound a little violent, but it is this that makes Volley so much fun. The fact that the user must change their methods means that by the end of the game the user will have mastered all aspects of the game.

Volley is an application I would definitely recommend to anyone (and everyone). Volley is one of the rare apps that makes the absolute most out of its potential and this is great to see. At just under $3 (US) I save seen (and heard) people complain about the price being a little too steep for what the app offers. Many of the people that wish for a drop in the price have not yet tried Volley and, therefore, are unable to understand many of the subtle and intangible features that are present during gameplay. The MyAppSource team would also like to thank Reinhard from tapelicious.com for supplying us with many videos and screenshots to use in this review. We are unable to post them all here, but, they will all be available through our respective Flickr and YouTube accounts.

MyAppSource Rating: 4 Stars!