Time to start my little marathon of Regular Show Iphone games starting with the deceptively good deal that is Best Park in the Universe. From the mind of J.G. Quintel, one of the writers behind Camp Lazlo and Adventure Time not to mention the creative director of the show The Marvellous Misadventures of Flapjack, we have one of another of the few cartoons that is praised by both children and adults alike. While I myself have only watched like four episodes, Regular Show has the reputation of using fairly more adult jokes in its writing. Maybe “adult” is a little strong but the writing definitely has itself targeted towards an older generation seeing how our two main characters Mordecai and Rigby are practically just two hooting and hollering college kids who are working in a park. Thankfully the outrageous adventures and settings of the show also allows kids to really love this show as well. But with that said, for just a partial watcher of the show can these three games I got planned to review hold up as games as well as homages to the original show? Let’s find out
Regular Show: Best Park in the Universe is a beat ‘em up in the tradition of the cartoon show’s 80s and 90s aesthetic. Unfortunately, the game comes with a few issues. Unfortunately, the game comes with a few issues. Cartoon Network TV Spot, 'Best Park in the Universe' Submissions should come only from the actors themselves, their parent/legal guardian or casting agency. Please include at least one social/website.
The contextual story goes thus, when Benson leaves for a Park Managing Conference, he leaves Mordecai and Rigby in charge of the park so they decide clean up the park completely to impress Benson and possibly get a few days off. But suddenly this green martian cowboy pops up (only on Regular Show) and proposes that if Mordecai and Rigby do a deal with him he can make the park the best park in the universe. Stupidly they agree. The green martian cowboy then lifts the entire park into the sky and now Mordecai and Rigby have to fight their way through an onslaught of Interns and zombie business men to save the park or Benson will fire them.
Best Park in the universe is to the clearest definition a side scrolling beat ’em up with some dungeon crawling aspects. You can either play as Mordecai or Rigby (and you can switch between the two anytime) as they move right through the 15 levels, stopping to beat the crud out of any enemy in your path until the screen allows you to progress again. To move you tap where you want to go and you just keep tapping to move, and as for attacks, you swipe one finger in the direction you want to punch/kick to do just that and you tap the screen with two fingers to unleash your special attack once your Super bar fills up from beating up the enemies.
There is also an RPG element to Best Park in the universe. See, when you defeat enough enemies and get enough experience points Mordecai and Rigby will level up and obtain stars used to upgrade. The upgrades include a special upwards kick, karate chops, health and strength upgrades, and even more powerful special attacks. When you get right down to it there isn’t a lot of choice in customization, the upgrade system is just there to slightly slow down the players progression. This isn’t a bad thing it’s just shows that the upgrade system is kind of some pointless micromanaging.
Now from a gameplay perspective, combat is functionable but the game devolves into a cluster of swiping and baddies coming from both sides very often. The A.I.s main tactic is to just attack you from both sides, which to be fair a good tactic but visually with so many moving characters it creates the Castle Crashers problem of too many thins happening on screen and confusion of which line of attack will hit an enemy and which line will clearly miss and they can wander up and claw you raccoon or blue jay butt off.
Also I would feel better if this game were ported to a hand held like the 3DS or equivalent. Mostly because once you upgrade far enough along to get the jump kick and what not the movements while only mildly more effective really don’t flow that well with finger swipes. Plus the whole constant tapping movement while functional as well just doesn’t feel as natural like any form of d-pad or equivalent. But we’re stuck with the system that we got and I can’t fault the game developers for that. They made the gameplay at least functionable but I just don’t feel it’s the most intuitive control scheme for an Iphone.
Now finally let’s talk the aesthetics of the game. The visuals and music. Graphics-wise it emulates the series greatly and everything flows beautifully even when the action gets all clustery and the music while not really not worthy is still a fun techno rhythm but during gameplay you’ll soon tune it out. My final thoughts? For a game that I’ve constantly said is just functionable, I’ve really enjoyed playing it. It’s slightly unintuitive controls kinda give me a sense of accomplishment when I wrestle with them and still come out on top and complete a level. I guess the slightly unintuitive control scheme charmed me in the end. While I’m sure there are plenty of other side scrolling beat ’em ups with better control schemes and what not Best Park in the Universe is still at least worth a look.
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Check out an interview with Regular Show creator JG Quintel!
As a Regular Show fan, I consistently find myself drawn to things with the name attached, and of course video games for the show are aplenty. With The Regular Show: Best Park in the Universe we get something quite good actually, unlike most mobile and browser games.In Best Park in the Universe, perpetual slackers Mordecai and Rigby are left in charge after manager Benson heads to a conference. In an effort to get some get some days off they want to clean the entire park and end up embroiled in a plot with a space cowboy to make their park the titular best in the universe. Like most of their exploits they end up being idiots and attempt to save their park for the most selfish of reasons, and much hilarity ensues.
The game itself is mainly comprised of a straightforward beat-em-up with a very, VERY light RPG leveling system in the form of a small skill tree. For characters you get to choose a tag-team from the main Mordecai and Rigby, but you can also play as Muscle Man and Pops (any combination of the 4 choices), which adds an entire new realm of humor to the battling.
Over the course of 3 maps (5 levels each) you must battle your way through swarms of various enemies such as space bikers, zombie businessmen, and robots. The difficulty curve is decent until the last couple levels of the 3rd map where it skyrockets. All the enemies seem programmed to surround you and attack until you are dead. Simple enough. This wouldn't be much of a problem with the leveling system, but it's the controls that make it a problem. you can't always be sure who you'll be hitting, if anyone at all- sometimes the characters will just swing at air even though you're right on top of the enemies.
| Just Flexing Some Pecs as Muscle Man! |
As for graphics and sound- Best Park in the Universe has top notch in both areas. They are clean and crisp- graphics are vibrant and wonderful, and the sounds have great voice-overs for the characters. Hearing Pops ask during his 'special attack' if anyone wants to wrestle never loses it's touch, consider his highly effeminate and crazy old man-voice. I have to be honest here and say I saw a ton of screen tearing (see my Muscle Man Pec Flexing screencap above) and the app crashed at least 15 times over the course of a few days. There are problems, but since the game was only 99 cents it wasn't much of an issue, more of an annoyance.
In addition to the main 15 total levels, there are a few minigames to play. The first is an enemy horde wave mode to defeat as many enemies as possible before you die. Simple and fun. The second mode 'Epic Destruction' is a destroy-as-many-circuit-towers-in-two-minutes-mode. Another nice and small challenge- nothing special, but a nice little distraction. The third mode is 'Speed Search Mode' a duck collecting mode. This mode is the worst part as a result of the poor movement control. You have to time your movements for maneuvering through many series of lasers- which is made much more difficult because of shoddy movement controls.
Update: Just found out the 4th lock is a 'Boss Rush Mode.' You get to fight all the bosses back to back.
The look and feel of this game is something that I believe has actually done some justice for the series, which is open to an entire world of games- they just aren't quite getting most of them right. I really hope the game makers for any future Regular Show games take note and learn from this and go from there. This sets up a decent foundation, but that's about it. This reminds me of the Nintendo 3DS's Regular Show: Mordecai and Rigby in 8-Bit Land, they had a solid base, and just didn't get it right. Fun for what time I played, but not really memorable.
Overall- if you are a fan of either brawler beat-em-ups or
Regular Show Best Park In The Universe Game Online
The Regular Show
Regular Show Best Park In The Universe Apk
, Best Park in the Universe is worth your time.
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