Flip Diving
Physics-based simulator incites kids to spend
Parents need to know that Flip Diving is a simulator that features divers performing tricks in various locations. Rag doll physics make the divers' movements fairly real, and it can look painful when they belly flop or smash their heads against diving boards or stone outcroppings. Divers, tricks, and new dive locations can be bought with coins earned by good diving, but the process is so slow that it's clearly designed to make players spend money. Players can also earn coins by watching ads for other games. Check out the app's privacy policy to find out about the types of information collected and shared.
WHAT'S IT ABOUT?
Flip Diving has no story beyond making people from different walks of life (a professional diver, a karate expert, a man in a business suit) dive off cliffs and other absurdly high locations. The idea is to correctly perform various tricks from higher and higher elevations, thus earning gold coins while avoiding belly and back flops. Coins are used to and diving locations; players can also buy tickets with real money and use those to purchase additional items or watch ads to earn in-game currency. Though the controls are simple — just tap and hold to tuck — timing is everything, and it's not as easy as it seems to dive successfully.
IS IT ANY GOOD?
This is less a game than an amusing little time-killer, but its slow progress, ads, and purchases make it less-than-ideal for kids. It's easy to imagine making a ten minute line at the bank more tolerable by making a rag-dollish diver go "sploosh" but less easy to imagine doing it for hours on end. And while it's fun to get the hang of performing a perfect backflip or pike, the reluctant reward system means there are literally hundreds of dives ahead of you before unlocking more stuff. What's even more annoying is that you don't get to choose what to unlock: Though you can scroll through different characters with "Get" buttons, you still have to spin a wheel to spend your coins, which gives you a new character at random, not one you choose deliberately. You can watch videos to get things faster, but the number of videos you have to watch to unlock that female diver is excessive — yes, ONE female diver. What, women don't dive? In the end you won't be playing Flip Diving for the audio-visuals since the graphics and sound are no more than adequate, but if turning a guy in a penguin suit into an Olympic-level diver sounds good to you, you're in for a rare treat.
APP DETAILS Devices: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Android
Price: Free
Release date: August 20, 2016 Category: Sports | Size: 160.00 MB Publisher: Miniclip.com Software requirements: iOS 8.0 or later, Android 2.3 and up Rating: Recommended for ages 9 and older