How far would you go to rescue your kidnapped wife and children? Are you bold enough and more than willing to go deep down into the depths of the ocean, even if no one has ever gone there before? Did I hear a yes?

Then join Captain Antarctica on his breakneck mission to save his family. Help the angry penguin defeat the villainous enemies and overcome the obstacles!

You’ve all likely played your fair share of endless runners and jumping creatures (well, I assume). Now, why don’t you have a game you haven’t played yet? You probably should!

Unlike running and jumping upwards, this app is unusual for it lets you fly downwards (yes it is). is an upbeat casual gaming application invented by FDG Entertainment for iOS devices that lets you wear the black and white skin tuxedo, or rather play the role of the avenging penguin and embark on an epic rescue mission to find his kidnapped family. It’s a tale of heroism few can match, but who cares, we all love penguins, don’t you?

Harking back to the tale of woe, Captain Antarctica’s family (your family, so to speak) was abducted for unknown reasons by the evil eagle mastermind. This immediately enraged him and hence he teamed up with the crazy inventor Ed, who’s been building jetpacks capable of catapulting its subjects into the lowest regions of the ocean. Your quest then begins as you guide the (angry) penguin, with an experimental fish-powered jet scuba suit, through six different levels on his quest to rescue his family. Go deep down the underwater and destroy the devious foes and massive bosses!

Features

• HD Graphics- Experience jaw dropping 2D art, carefully brought to perfection. Supports the new Retina Display!
• 2 Control Options- Choose between intuitive tilt and precise touch controls.
• Hilarious Bonus Comics- Follow Captain Antarctica’s adventure closely, while he solves the mysteries of kidnapped penguins.
• 6 Unique Locations and Settings- Discover the depths of the ocean with all of their diversity and secrets.
• Massive Bosses- Fight huge bosses and show them what penguins are made of.
• Dozens of Whacky Inventions- Make use of Ed’s inventions to rescue your family.
• Worldwide Leaderboards- Compete with your friends via Game Center.
• Game Center Achievements- Unlock tons of achievements to get even more rewards and items.

Gameplay

Much of this game stems from its level based approach to progression unlike the others that gives you a never ending experience. Anyway, the game’s main objective is to trek across the freezing ice conditions to find and set free Antartica’s family members who have been kidnapped.

As your penguin careens down the screen, you control him by tilting your iOS device left and right. The app defies both biology and mechanics at once, soaring towards the bottom of the sea, you must gobble up fishes to make your rocket more powerful as you go and eventually turn yourself in to a living projectile as you collide in to them. The fishes are your lifesaver as they build up an appropriate ramming speed for your jetpack. As you go through each stage, you’ll encounter plenty of obstacles and a series of hazards. You must avoids piranhas, underwater mines, spiky reefs and among others. However, it is all too easy to lose speed and ultimately the stage by taking damage from enemies. Given that, you must use some power-ups to assist you on your journey.

The game does get a bit challenging and tougher as you move deeper into the abyss. You must complete each level twice to defeat the various bosses before you can progress and hop into another stage. Most of your enemies are in the form of one sea monster or another, which will throw things at you or gun you down.  Quirky mafia bosses and perilous obstacles are just some of the hurdles that will pose a threat en route, but keep in mind that you are capable of making sushi of your enemies.

Kidding aside, it doesn’t get more off the wall than that. As you go deeper and deeper along the way, you’ll be presented with crazy gadgets and whacky inventions by Ed such as the fish magnet add-ons, powerful torches for nocturnal expeditions, tools for slicing and dicing fruit, and melon and cherry flavored powered jet suits that you must get. You must also cleverly use the secret passage ways and gather power-ups to make your life easier as you go through each level. Initially, you have only two chances to take damage, but fish can be spent on more ‘hearts’, giving you more of a chance to survive until the end of each level. You usually accumulate coins whenever you nab the fishes. However, if your eponymous penguin’s life is at risk, you can increase its lifeline by purchasing additional hearts by spending your in-game coins. Additional coins or upgrades are gained by completing each level’s dedicated set of missions but the store in the game lets you use some of the coin you’ve earned. You may opt to spend some and do virtual shopping at Ed’s laboratory.

Not to mention, this game offers “Experiments” or various side goals of collecting coins, hitting enemies and avoiding obstacles that give you extra rewards while playing. Its online Game Center, on the other hand, allows you to compare your own achievements against the world leader score board.

Pros and Cons

This is definitely an easy game to pick up where anyone can actually play it for hours. I commend its charmingly catchy background tune that is guaranteed to get stuck in your head and make your feet tap. And as long as tilt controls are concern, I never had any trouble navigating the narrow pathways in the game. Other than that, I like its high quality cartoon style that fits perfectly with the nautical theme of the game. The added feature of mini goals also manages to hold my attention. Strangely, the game lacks the expected ‘endless’ mode common to games of this style. Also, I noticed some frame rate issues that led me crashing into an obstacle occasionally without any chance of saving myself (the penguin). These are minor complaints though, it may not be perfect nor one of the most original games in the app market, but it’s still fun to play while it lasts.

Verdict

Captain Antarctica has plenty of features to keep you hooked for a while and a great way to kill a few minutes now and then. It is short but a wonderfully addictive casual title that added its own few twists without losing its charm and replay appeal of its equivalents. It is also a great compliment to casual gamers who are into mission-based gameplay. Unlike the runner games, it will certainly make you crave for level progression as you enjoy this pleasant journey. Overall, it is well worth the download even just for an aesthetic value and I bet even the Avengers are more likely to join forces with this penguin– if given a chance.

Download the app on the for $0.99. You may also want to try the  for $1.99.

Watch the trailer of the game below: