Pick a Piggy (69p/99 cents) by Dynamic Pixels is more polished than any of my shoes have ever been, but that isn’t all that’s needed to really make a game shine. Thankfully, the app comes with enough substance to make its style worthwhile.

The game is all about navigating a rotund little piggy called Pong through a maze-like house by flinging her with your finger. Each level requires that you guide Pong to a hole at the top of the screen, collecting as many of its three stars as you can on the way. Gradually introduced obstacles make life more difficult for you – Pong will get stuck in cobwebs, stolen away by rats and trapped if she’s caught eating cake. She can also earn special abilities; eating mushrooms (presumably magic ones) allows her to split into five or six cute miniature piggies whilst flying through the air. Tapping one of these mini pigs makes it normal sized again, and all the other small swine disappear. The ability takes a while to get used to, but creates some interesting puzzle-solving opportunities. Similarly bizarre is the pig’s ice-cube ability. Collecting an ice-cube allows Pong to freeze instantly, making her fall to the ground from wherever she is in the air. Pretty cool.

Graphically, the game feels like Popcap made it. Everything is clean, cartoony and charming, although the various backgrounds that appear throughout the game could do with containing more visual differences (they are all crafted from what is essentially the same colour palette). Nice touches like Pong being squashed as she hits a wall, or looking disappointed as she gets caught in a cobweb, help to make the app feel special and add to its playful character. You can even rub Pong’s belly, making her pull a very, very cute face. The game audio also adds to the game’s presentational magic – there’s nothing like the sound of a pig being squashed for lending a game appeal. The soundtrack bounces along nicely, although it does get a little repetitive.

Pick a Piggy is full of content, including 100 levels, leaderboards and achievements. The flinging mechanic controls precisely, and is easy to understand but difficult to master. Irritatingly, Pong can’t be flung until she’s first stopped moving. This reduces the pace of the game and feels like an unfair hindrance. Many levels contain things like rotating platforms. It’s not possible to fling Pong from these because she’ll always be moving slightly on them. The app can also feel a little too slow at times – it’s rare for levels to contain much motivation for urgency. It would be nice if the timed stars of Cut the Rope made an appearance, just to add that little extra bite that keeps the player playing.

Overall, Pick a Piggy sparkles and gleams nearly all of the right places. The app is visually brilliant, but that doesn’t quite transfer to its content, which can feel a little slow at times. Level design tends to be fairly good, but not brilliant. The game can be fairly challenging, but is never overly difficult, and contains enough content to last for several hours. For 69p/99 cents, Pick a Piggy is good value, and a very worthwhile purchase.

Overall Rating: 8/10

Tags: A, Adventure, App, Dynamic, iphone, iPod, Pick, Pig, Piggy, Pixels, Platform, puzzle, Review, Touch