The iPhone has proven to be a godsend from rabid advertisers whose corporate agenda has been to get branded adver-tainment right into our pockets. With this theme they are creating a number of different applications that give you great “features” such as watching trailers for movies or test-driving new cars. These are pathetic and invasive attempts to destroy the control that smart phone technology was supposed to have for its users. Though the average citizen should be offended by this kind of assault and take over of their own public space, there are a few branded applications that bring a mild amount of entertainment. Hellboy II: The Golden Army – Tooth Fairy Terror is one of these, and thankfully, it’s a freebie.

This arcade inspired game takes a franchise that is neither recent nor exceptionally successful and attempts to capitalize on it. The game itself references the Hellboy mythology where Tooth Fairies are actually violent little creatures that attack indiscriminately. In The Golden Army, Hellboy and his other government funded cohorts are after some cross-species “terrorists” and in one action packed moment they are forced to shoot as many of these as possible. You take on this role in Tooth Fairy Terror where they begin flying strait toward you and it is up to you to hit them with your finger, blowing them into a green splat. They begin coming at you in record numbers and you have to keep your instincts ready and your trigger finger limber. This brings up memories of both gun shooters and “Whack-a-mole” games that cost your last precious quarters.

The game itself also gives you great advertisements to tell you to see a movie that is neither in the theater nor even on the top of the new release shelf at your local videomart. The irony here is that the game survives somewhat even if the franchise does not, and the fact that it brings brief frenzied fun and you do not have to buy into the film theme. The game itself has almost nothing to do with the movie itself, nor will it inspire you to watch it. Instead it will likely make you want to waste even more quick gaming moments attacking strangely conceived fairies.

Labels: Iphone Game

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