iPhone review of the day: Sr. Mitsu - like Frogger for the elderly Asian set

On iPhone
Game: Sr. Mitsu
Price: $0.99
Size: 121 MB
Get it now on iTunes:US /UK

Sr. Mitsu isn't heavy on plot or game mechanics, but its bright colored-pencil graphics and Birkenstock-pop soundtrack - consisting of a single instantly hummable song - make for an engrossing and enduring experience. It's all pretty simple: Sr. Mitsu is making a delicious pizza for dinner when he suddenly realizes he's completely out of olives. Time to go get more. The hitch? Sr. Mitsu is blind, and for some reason his favorite topping has been scattered all over town. So, it's up to you - as Sr. Mitsu's obedient seeing-eye dog - to guide the poor guy all over town to retrieve them.

The second twist is this: Sr. Mitsu lives in a town filled with people who don't give a crap about the blind. Cars, children, and jackhammering construction workers will not adjust their paths to accommodate Sr. Mitsu or the service dog leading him. They%26rsquo;ll plow right into (or over) him, political correctness and common courtesy be damned. So it's up to you to draw a path that takes into account the trajectory of where everyone will be by the time Sr. Mitsu crosses their path. If there's a collision, Sr. Mitsu falls and cannot get up, just like a turtle or certain spokespeople for old people devices.

Unfortunately, there's really no learning curve for this strategy. The only way to really beat every level is through trial and error and sometimes a little dumb luck. Also, this being on iPhone only, sometimes the game loads for an excessive amount of time and it can also be difficult to draw a path if you%26rsquo;re using your fat finger instead of a stylus. But ultimately it's all worth it, knowing you can rest easier at night having helped an old blind man evade death a few times just to get a little fatter.

Apr 21, 2011