Fire Fu (iOS) Review

By Luna Eriksson 25.02.2016

Review for Fire Fu  on iOS

Fighting off hordes of enemies has never been simpler than it is in Fire Fu. Just a swipe or a warm touch with the finger of fiery doom is required in RetroFist's mobile release, coming under the Games 4 All label, Channel 4's new videogame division. Is this debut title from the new publisher set to be a hot topic amongst gamers, or does it just flutter and fade away quickly?

One of the most common complaints about smartphone titles from seasoned gamers is that they are barely games at all, sometimes offering the least amount of content possible to actually be considered as acceptable for release, with the bare minimum amount of investment put into production. This is a complaint that Fire Fu simply cannot avoid. This is a really simple title, so much so that almost anyone can play it without any instruction. All that is needed is to touch the screen to kill all of the enemies appearing by swiping over them to burn them with fire.

The core mechanics could have been fun, though. There is promise in Fire Fu, but the issue is that it stays at that level and doesn't evolve further. To add fuel to the fire, many features in the game have to be unlocked in a freemium-like shop where even the possibility to acquire an item must be actually purchased, and even then, the items themselves do very little to add to the bonfire. This leaves what could possibly have been Fire Fu's final saving grace to impress – the boss battles. Sadly, unlocking these isn't done by some simple process such as beating the level before it. Instead it is done by the same freemium-like store mechanic, which is going to ensure that gamers play through far more often than they would want to.

Screenshot for Fire Fu  on iOS

Most will likely end up playing one of said free-to-play titles instead, as those more often than not offer more enjoyable gameplay than Fire Fu – in fact, even other games in its price class generally do, as well. It is disappointing, as at its core, the mechanics found in Fire Fu could have been developed considerably in very interesting and creative ways to present a far superior experience. For a £1.99 title, more is certainly expected.

Nobody could ever complain about the gameplay being overly too complex, that's for sure, but then again, some of the best experiences have a basic premise. However, here it comes across as shallow, and there is a lack of progression within the gameplay mechanics offered. There is very little replayability, enjoyment…basically no reason to pick this up instead of the wealth of similarly-themed releases currently on the App Store. It can easily be passed by without feeling like anything has been missed.

Screenshot for Fire Fu  on iOS

Cubed3 Rating

3/10
Rated 3 out of 10

Bad

Fire Fu follows a worrying trend of certain iOS games whereby the absolute minimum is done in order to pass it off as a 'game.' Minimalist gameplay can sometimes work wonders if implemented well, set against a well-developed core structure with progression in place to encourage replayability. However, here it just becomes a drawback due to the lack of any effort to bring players back to the fold regularly, leaving nothing more than a boring experience that offers very little over the competition. Ultimately, this can safely be skipped without missing much of interest…

Developer

RetroFist

Publisher

Channel 4

Genre

Action

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  3/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  7/10 (3 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date None   Australian release date Out now   

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