Greedy Bankers Review

Greed is Good

What’s this then, an iPhone game that takes a timely satirical swipe at the unscrupulous financial fat cats who’ve all but brought the world economy to its knees? Sadly, and in spite of Greedy Bankers (out now, $0.99) boasting a unique political cartoon-ish art style, in name only. Instead Alistair Aitcheson’s assured debut is a surprisingly compelling and sassy twist on the ol’ Tetris style falling block/color matching puzzle mechanic.

Set across a series of increasingly tougher and more fast-paced stages, the goal of the game is, put simply, to amass as much cash as possible. Each quick-fire round is played out in the tight confines of a bank vault, where, as gems fall down the screen, you’ve got to quickly group together same-colored precious stones on a 2D grid in order to reach the level’s pre-set cash-out quota. The more gems you merge together, the quicker you clear that level. And this being an action puzzler, it probably goes without saying that you’re also playing against the clock – so every split-second counts!

Greedy Banker’s initial handful of levels aren’t that taxing, and keep time limits manageably high and the pay-out points low, allowing one adequate time to master the game’s puzzle mechanic and nifty tap-and-drag control scheme. Beating the first few stages can be easily achieved by simply tapping and clearing individual gems, but, be warned, as you progress, you’ll have to start using your noggin to score bigger combos.

Getting combos is a matter of grouping together larger amounts of gems before tapping the screen to convert them into cold hard moolah. Easy, right? Wrong, because a few levels in, the game introduces the likes of indestructible chunks of rubble and a bank robber who darts around the grid attempting to grab gems before you reach them.

The further you manage to get, the more frenzied, frenetic and gosh-darn fun the action becomes, while the vibrant, retina enhanced graphics and a rousingly jazzy score ensure the game looks and sounds great too. Now, Greedy Bankers probably isn’t the type of title you’re going to sit down and play for hours and hours on end, but it is an absolute blast in small doses. Pretty much perfect and only loses a star due to a disappointing dirth of extra modes and challenges outside of the main game.

iFanzine Verdict: Greedy Bankers is an amusing and addictive entry to iOS’ lineup of pick-up-and-play puzzlers and its fast-paced gameplay is guaranteed to keep you coming back for more (and more and more!). Talented indie developer Alistair Aitcheson deserves to make a shed-load of cash with this one, if you ask us!

[xrr rating=4/5]