Blown Away app review

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It’s been a rotten day for Hendrik. A strong wind blew away his home and the vast majority of his hair, leaving a solitary strand on his bonce.

He also lives in a world of suspended pathways, windmills with deadly whirling blades, angry stompy goblins, and fire-spewing miscreants. On the plus side, he has a natty pair of teleporting shoes.

If you’re thinking ‘platform game’, you’ve nailed it. Hendrik marches along, scooping up pieces of his broken house, all while trying to avoid being sliced in half by a windmill blade, or donked by a demon. This being a mobile title, it’s also an auto-runner.

Should Hendrik vanish off of the screen, he’s done for. You can’t move left or right, and there’s no jumping. But remember those shoes? Tap anywhere on the screen and Hendrik immediately ‘ports to that location — assuming his shoes are fully charged.

Precision-tooled teleportation

The battery is exhausted whenever Hendrik makes a jump, but is quickly recharged when he takes a few steps. Early on, you’ll barely notice this system, because the level design is so forgiving.

You’ll scoot from start to goal, with barely a care in the world, thinking Hendrik’s a bit of a whiner. After all, his life seems pretty easy, aside from the admittedly irritating ‘house blowing away’ bit.

Gradually, the game bares its teeth. Hendrik’s shoes are powered up — faster charging; additional batteries — but each level becomes a kind of puzzle-infused maze, packed full of twisting paths and hazards determined to kill the hairless chap. You’ll have to precisely teleport three times on the trot, land, recharge, and go again. Occasionally, you’ll teleport into empty space, in the hope a subsequent jump will get you to solid ground.

Thankfully, restart points lessen any frustration considerably, to the extent that you’ll sometimes kill off Hendrik just to replay a section where you missed a piece of his house.

About

I’m a regular contributor to Stuff magazine and Stuff.tv, covering apps, games, Apple kit, Android, Lego, retro gaming and other interesting oddities. I also pen opinion pieces when the editor lets me, getting all serious about accessibility and predicting when sentient AI smart cookware will take over the world, in a terrifying mix of Bake Off and Terminator.

Areas of expertise

Mobile apps and games, Macs, iOS and tvOS devices, Android, retro games, crowdfunding, design, how to fight off an enraged smart saucepan with a massive stick.