Cheecoting’ Review – Marbles For A New Generation

‘Cheecoting’ Review – Marbles For A New Generation
It’s probably not something kids do often nowadays, but marbles hold a special place in the memories of many people.

It’s probably not something kids do often nowadays, but marbles hold a special place in the memories of many people. But have you ever tried shooting marbles through an endless loop like a racing game with your buddies? Turns out, such a sport already exists: Cheecoting . And it has already made it to your iPhone as the titular app.

The Italian-originated game of Cheecoting is played on a beach. Participants take turns throwing a colorful marble through a custom-built Formula1-style track, with the winner being the one to take the least number of throws. You will be doing the same thing in its iPhone version. Flicking the screen with your finger will cause the marble to move in the respective direction. Shoot it too short and you’ll take time and finish last, but making an overpowered shoot will derail your marble from the track, resetting you to the previous position and wasting your turn. It’s a simple concept and definitely sounds fun, but unfortunately, “fun” isn’t exactly the experience you will have with the game on your iPhone.

The very first thing you do in Cheecoting is probably to kick your marble out of the track and realize that was a bad move. Either that, or prodding your marble a few centimeters as the result of an accidental touch on the phone’s screen. While I haven’t tried the real Cheecoting to know how hard it is, playing it on an iPhone is just plain frustrating. Far too often, you will commit fouls, mis-drive your marble, or do something you don’t intend to. Straight segments are rare, and in tight turns (which are common) you will be moving extremely slowly if you don’t want to be out. Your patience will be tested intensively.

You are given a choice of four different tracks, which isn’t a large selection. Though I doubt that many people will be able to try them all before quitting. If you don’t enjoy playing alone, you may play the game competitively in hot-seat multiplayer against humans or computer AI. It is good that such options are available, but finding someone who also enjoys the game will be a another quest. AIs, on the other hand, are surprisingly human-like. Naturally, they would make a better player than you are. Sometimes, they will fail to attempt some difficult maneuvers, only to come back to short and safe shoots that would get them to finish line eventually, which probably isn’t that far different from your real life buddy. In these modes, your turn is also constrained within a reasonable 30 seconds.

While the game is fully rendered in 3D, it isn’t particularly wonderful. The tracks are distracted by ads, beer cans, sand castles, and pretty much anything that you can find on a beach — but made up of low-polygon mesh with blurry and unimpressive textures that leave no great impression. The trail that marks the marble’s movement is even more unattractive, with flickers and clippings, especially at slow speeds. Even then, a decent performance is not achieved, with consistently low framerate and occasional shutters. The jazzy Hawaiian background music probably isn’t particularly bad when it stands on its own, but it is interrupted by the far too usual “death sound” when you move out of the track, and doesn’t help to elevate the game experience in general.

If you think those problems are everything that will plague your experience…well, they aren’t. Within the slightly cluttered and complicated UI, the lap indicator persistently shows “0/1” without any actual lap setting. The pretty big menu button at the lower corner will also forfeit all of your current progress and return to main menu in a flash, without any confirmation. While it’s always up to personal preference, the camera control feels stiff, inaccurate, and inverted to me without any option to fix. In fact, it has contributed to many of my accidents in the game so far. Although there is an entire “Rules” section in the main menu, every game starts off with a tutorial message that I haven’t really found a way to turn off. It is written in both English and Italian, regardless of your language setting. Whether this is culture spreading or patience testing is something that still baffles me.

It’s been quite difficult to imagine someone who would love and enjoy Cheecoting . While I appreciate that it lets me know about a sport that I haven’t heard of, testing patience when I’m not in the mood just doesn’t feel great. If you’re really interested, and a trip to Italy isn’t that affordable, helping yourself at a nearby beach will probably serve you better. Unless you’re looking for an awkward session of zen training as well, that is

For more information, visit the game’s official website. Cheecoting is available on iOS App Storefor $1.99 for both iPhone and iPad.

[review pros=”Multiplayer option, human-like AI” cons=”Frustrating and difficult control, unattractive presentation, bad UI design” score=45]