Review: My Penguin 1.2

After my initial 1.0 review, I never released a review for My Penguin 1.1 since it included only ported Club Penguin games and no new features (here's my review for that: Card-Jitsu Snow, Puffle Rescue's Black Puffle Pack, and the final few levels of Pufflescape work great on iPad and are nice additions).  However, I have decided to start reviewing every major update to the application.  And there's no better place to start than 1.2 - My Penguin's biggest update since launch.

Source: Official Club Penguin

This new update includes content that was first rumored back in May, a few days after the app's debut on iPad.  And, boy, was it (pretty much) worth the wait.

Let's start with the design of the new and improved app.  The new home screen is very nice, with the layered feel being a very unique and cool thing for Club Penguin.  While I do miss the old screen, this new screen, which is packed with details (tilt your iPad and the distant background with the Town will move too), is very sleek and colorful.  The two main sections are a great idea.  I do wish that the penguin would still make the little emotes when you tapped on him or her.  There really is no reason that had to be removed.

The bar at the bottom, along with its functions, look very nice and are very responsive, for the most part.  The map, igloo selection screens, game screens, and load screens also look very good.  Updated menus and screens, such as the Friends List and Sushi Drop, also look nice.  I do kind of miss the YouTube accessibility though.

Source: Official Club Penguin

A cool thing about this update is that you now have the ability to buy a membership with iTunes cash.  This, along with other small functions like the Penguin Day Count, is a very cool feature.  It doesn't take long either - I renewed my membership in less than two minutes.  However, the parent number lock that is displayed before purchasing and in other areas of the app doesn't feel like a very secure way to keep innocent fingers from blowing Mom and Dad's mortgage payment.  It's better than what most apps do about this problem (also known as nothing), but I feel it could use some polishing.

One of the game additions is the first ever spin-off in Club Penguin History (if you don't count ported versions of games with altercations, like Ice Fishing) - Jetpack Boost.  This game, which complements the original main-stay Jetpack Adventure well, has fun game-play and a neat concept.  The more cynical of players could call the gameplay style a bit of a rip-off of Halfbrick's smash hit Jetpack Joyride, with its tap-and-hold-to-rise style, objectives, and turbo mode.  However, I think there is more than enough original in this game.

The objectives in Jetpack Boost are a great thing which like stamps, keeps people coming back.  The addicting game also features a couple cool Club Penguin character cameos and a few appearances from objects from other games, along with a few things we've never seen before.  If Jetpack Adventure had never been created in 2006 and had been made for the first time today, this would be the game we would get.  It sticks with a classic Club Penguin formula: inventing some new things for a game but also throwing in a few things from previous Club Penguin stuff.

The rules of Jetpack Boost are a bit strange, though.  Why do you not run out of fuel?  Did Gary invent a Jetpack that doesn't run out of fuel?  If he did, why wouldn't he put that one into Jet Pack Adventure?  How does the game decide when I'm going to boost to another area?  How is Protobot awake?  It's not game breaking but it is strange.

Source: Club Penguin Wikia

Then we come to Bean Counters.  It and Hydro Hopper are two of my favorite games on Club Penguin, and also I feel, the most unappreciated.  So, Bean Counters on iPad obviously gets a thumbs up from me, especially when you take into account the fact that the Jelly Bean version is here too.  I also feel that the mobile version has a leg up to the original in one way - there is actually a sign that tells you how many more bags you have to put on the platform until the level ends.  This is something I have wanted for years.

However, while I like the graphical improvements, I do think the game is harder in mobile form than online.  When you move your finger across the iPad, the penguin will follow your movement, but will not be right under your finger (if you know what I mean).  And, that irritates me.  Another fact was that in Jelly Bean Mode, tapping to let the bags off is very touchy.  Sometimes you'll end up throwing the wrong beans on your pile or throwing the right ones into the truck (speaking of which, why doesn't the Coffee Shop just take them all?).

But the 3D penguins are the big things in this update.  First teased in a comic a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away (Takeover Joke Of The Day) years ago, these penguins have finally taken over our iPad's and our hearts (insert cute "ohhhhhhhhh" sound here).  And boy, are they a marvel (Second Takeover Joke Of The Day) neat future.  Club Penguin really put their time into this (according to Spike Hike, it took a year to transfer every item) and it sure does show.  Every item, every costume action is incredible.  And the little motions your penguin does while just standing there are very entertaining, to be honest.  I particularly like the way your penguin plops down when sitting and dances.

Source: Club Penguin Coffee Break

Chat is rather fluid in the app.  However the famous e-t emote and a few other hidden keyboard ones are absent, which is sort of disappointing.  The bigger bubbles are a little strange compared to what were used to.

Then there are the igloos.  They all display rather nice.  The decorating mode is also rather sleek, at least from what I gathered in my small time trying it out.  It would neat if that in the future, we could visit the Box Dimension and play Card-Jitsu and Puffle Launch with the furniture in our igloo.  We know that Club Penguin has mobile stuff for Card-Jitsu in the pipes (or did at some point), they've already fine tuned Puffle Launch, and creating a mobile Box Dimension isn't that much of a stretch.  I think it could happen.

But there are several bugs that try their best to get in the way of your experience.  Now, I realize this whole app is large undertaking and Club Penguin is a busy company, having content, email responses, merchandise, and several hundred other things to do.  But, there are a few things that are a bit rough around the edges.  Games will freeze for several seconds and then resume.  Loading screens can be surprisingly quick and can also be horribly long.  And, the penguin in Ice Fishing still displays as only a white penguin for me (it has since the original debut of the app).  These are small impediments and I realize this is a whole new world for Club Penguin.  The app is really responsive on the whole but I just hope for some fixes.

Source: Pomatafi

So, in closing, My Penguin 1.2 gives us more reasons to sing praises about Club Penguin's third mobile app.  Sure the app could use some refinements, but all in all, it's an enjoyable ride that I can't wait to see has in store for us in the future.

As Billybob, would say, Waddle On!
- Chillin43