iOS Spotlight: Adaline – An adventure of stealth, skill and cats

The iOS App Store is a strange place. There are incredible games, awful games, and awful clones of incredible games. The Chocobollo Company aims to change that, and they’ve started with their first game, Adaline – An adventure of stealth, skill and cats. The new developers seem to know what they’re getting into – the game’s current description (as of 4/23/15) expresses a desire for people to experience Adaline before it “faces the inevitable App Store Oblivion.”  The wacky puzzle/adventure game was released on April 16 for $1.99 with no in-app purchases, and it’s absolutely fantastic.

The game begins with our hero, an adorable girl named Adaline, graduating from college with a degree in political science. How exciting! With this valuable new knowledge, Adaline does the most logical thing for a freshly minted political scientist to do – she opens a pizza shop in the middle of the woods. The shop, called “Pizza Cat” receives a delivery request from a mischievous wolf, and that’s where the adventure begins.

Players use a directional pad on the left side of the touch screen to move Adaline. The goal is to get the cute little entrepreneur from the starting point to a wooden sign with a castle on it, avoiding wolves, traps, and other animals. Not all animals are out to get Adaline, though – there are quite a few cats that are eager to help her on her quest. Orange cats can push levers and walk over traps, while chubby black cats can disable traps by falling through them in an adorable fashion. Grey cats create gas clouds that blind wolves, and brown cats are “badass” cats that can take wolves down for Adaline. Cats, traps, wolves, lever-operated barriers, and colorful environments make each level a delight to look at and a joy to play through.

Despite its cute appearance, the game isn’t without challenge. As more gameplay elements are introduced and the levels get longer and more complicated, the game gets more difficult. Chocobollo has done a great job of making a game that appeals to all kinds of gamers and all levels of skill – younger gamers will love the cute presentation and silly storyline, while older gamers will appreciate the classic puzzle/adventure elements and the gradual increase in difficulty.

In a market that too often feels saturated with poorly crafted games that center around contrived gameplay and microtransactions, it’s an absolute delight to discover something as fun and fresh as Adaline. It’s an incredibly impressive title from an exciting new development team with a bright future – if you’ve got an iPhone and you enjoy great games, Adaline is definitely worth checking out. Download it here.