The Dictator: Wadiyan Games (iPad) Review

Updated

We've come to expect a mobile tie-in for upcoming films, and The Dictator: Wadiyan Games is no exception given Sacha Baron Cohen's (Ali G, Bruno etc) soon-to-be-released comedy The Dictator. Paying another nod to this summer's London Olympics, Wadiyan Games sees our president fighting unfairly across a series of sporting events.

There are two events provided with the free download: running and boxing. In the former, President Aladeen runs through three separate heats of sprints. Being the most powerful man in the land, he's of course armed with a pistol with which to take down his competitors. Later rounds have him armed with a machine-gun while riding one of those ridiculous Segway machines, or firing rockets from a gold-plated SUV.

This section evolves the running event featured in the film trailer.

Similarly, the boxing starts off with a knuckle-duster-wielding Aladeen facing off against a rather vulnerable opponent. As circles appear on your victim, you need to tap the screen to score points. Once the first heat's over, the president adopts the safety of a robotic mech-suit while taking swipes at his opponent with metallic bear claws. Ouch.

The style of the game is rather South Park-esque with its crude animations, and the sound relies on various soundbites from the upcoming film. As you might imagine, these can become a little wearisome once you've heard them a few times, but they're fun for the first blast through the game.

The commentary becomes repetitive rather quickly.

The initial offering is free and enjoyable enough in itself, although we'll be surprised if people feel motivated enough to stump up the rather optimistic $0.99 required for each of the two other sports offered up in the in-game store. These consist of swimming and fencing events, and we've no doubt they'll follow the rather thin gameplay setup of the free content.

You'll need to pay extra for the fencing and swimming events.

Very much more of an advertorial than an outright game, it's hard to muster up a great deal of enthusiasm for The Dictator, even if it's fun for a few fleeting moments. Die-hard fans of Cohen's films will no doubt get a bigger thrill out of this gaming version of his latest comedy, but for everyone else it's a bit of a throwaway experience.

Score:

What's Hot: Some amusing takes on film clips we've already seen. Entertaining.

What's Not: The humor starts to become repetitive rather quickly. A concept stretched a little too thin.

This article originally appeared on Modojo.com.

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