Crack O’ Lantern

Smashing pumpkins! Crack O’ Lantern has nothing to do with the band… smashing pumpkins, as in smashing them against a wall, is the object of this game.

It’s raining pumpkins (hallelujah) and your job is to (a) crack them on the ground, and then (b) smash them into little bits by tossing them against the wall. You gotta crack them first, though, and throwing uncracked pumpkins at the wall is an exercise in futility. When you see a special flaming red pumpkin, though, you can just wall-smash that one right away. Every pumpkin you successfully smash will fill your time meter, and when it’s filled all the way you get to advance to the next round.

The one big catch in this game is that any pumpkin that gets destroyed by any other method will get you zero points. Things start off simple enough, but as you progress through the levels there will be new obstacles thrown in such as spiky things and flying metal blades, and these obstacles make your smashing job a whole lot harder.

I like that Artisan Dream came up with a fairly original idea for a Halloween game. I mean, how many Halloween memory matches do we really need? With so many apps crowding the App Store originality is rare, so I have to applaud the effort put into Crack O’ Lantern.

But is the game fun? Eh… the gameplay actually feels a bit clunky for my tastes. It works exactly the way it’s supposed to, but the motion of cracking and then smashing just doesn’t do a lot for me. Am I crazy, or is this just yet another game that I suck at and therefore don’t want to play anymore? I dunno, you tell me! The game’s only a buck, so give it a try if you’re up for something new or need to keep the kids in check before Beg Strangers For Candy Day finally arrives.

iTunes Link – Crack O’ Lantern
Version 1.0
Reviewed on iPhone 3G OS3.1.2