Pearl Man

Version: 1.1
Price: $0.99
Platform****: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad

Description: Pearl Man is a retro/arcade style scuba diving game. The object of the game is to get your scuba diver to find and collect all the pearls and make it to the end of the level. There are obstacles along the way.

Pros: Easy to use. Allows tilts or virtual joystick controls.

Cons: Very low resolution graphics. Movements using the accelerometer in the iPhone are very rough. A bit glitchy.

Bottom Line: This whimsical game is similar to a “labyrinth-style” game — as you make your way around the board and collect pearls you avoid underwater creatures that take away from your health. The graphics are very 8-bit and the controls are rough around the edges. I found that after every level I completed using the joystick mode I couldn't get my diver to move on the next level, forcing me to restart the app and go back to the board to once again have control of the diver. I’d like to see the graphics modernized and the glitchy game-play fixed before I’d say this is a great game, but for $0.99 it’s a great price point and seeing that the developer has already added more animations and levels since it came out I’m thinking there will be future updates. As of this writing there is also a “Lite” version that is free. So give the free version a try and, if you enjoy it, go spend the buck and get all the levels.

To purchase, go to Pearl Man.

PADI Rescue Diver Michael Dombrowski, President of DomCo Electronics, Inc., is an Electrical and Software Engineer with over 10 years of experience specializing in iOS applications and rapid prototyping. He has created apps for the educational industry, including The Organwise Guys, and for the dive industry with RB Planner, as well as prototypes for the Arduino Community. To see more, visit his website at www.DomCoElectronics.com.