I'm back with impressions...
Kavinsky is most definitely the WORST game I've played on ios and very well could be one of the worst games I've played in my entire life. It's a side-scrolling beat 'em up with some driving/AR sections thrown in for variety sake.
The combat in this game is absolutely terrible. You're only given a virtual joystick (which actually works well for movement) and two input options - one for punching and another for kicking. There is no way to block so prepare to get gang raped when trying to take on multiple generic enemies at once. The controls feel sluggish and imprecise; it's almost as if there's a bit of lag between pressing a button and seeing the action performed on-screen. Movement takes place in a 3D space on a 2D plane but it's hard to hit enemies, I blame it on the touch screen controls, this game would definitely benefit from physical buttons and directional inputs. The boss fights at the end of the brawling levels are a joke, enemies have no discernible attack patterns and just come at you swinging until you take them down. However, this isn't hard to do considering there's no real penalty for dying. Your basic strategy basically boils down to mashing the punch button (the kick is way too slow and doesn't work half the time), if you die just revive, rinse, and repeat.
Like I said earlier they try to mix things up by adding in AR brawl segments. Here the game asks you to stand over a surface (preferable a magazine or book cover) on top of which your hero (Kavinsky) will appear next to his red testarossa. It's just a lame gimmick though, you end up trying to protect the car from random thugs who are inexplicably out to destroy your expensive vehicle and murder you with their bare fists. This leaves me wondering what the heck I ever did to deserve this, you would think I took a shit on their dead relatives grave and then went on a baby shaking spree. That's just my interpretation though, the game gives you absolutely no details when it comes to story.
The final portion of Kavinsky involves a driving section. This is without a doubt the worst part of the whole damn game. Basically it's Outrun or Crazi Taxi style - you have a timer and have to clear checkpoints scattered throughout the track to extend the time limit with the goal being to reach the end of the level. Simple enough right? Fuck no, this part is insanely difficult due to the piss poor controls. By default the game forces you to use the gyroscope controls which are terribly imprecise. Thankfully there's an option to control the car using arrows but that's also broken, they don't work half of the time and the car jerks around the track unpredictably when they do. It's literally a crap-shoot getting through these sections.
Not everything is bad about the game though. The music is amazing, French electro-house musician Vincent Belorgey provides the soundtrack which is sublime. I really got a retro 80s feeling listening to it. The atmosphere is great too, it's very reminiscent of Hotline Miami or GTA Vice City, you know, that 80s Miami take-on-the-world vibe oozes from the game. The graphics are excellent too and hey, it's a free game! However, these positives aren't even close to enough to outweigh the negatives I listed above. Expect to spend about an hour going through the six levels currently available (it looks like more will be added over time) but just remember though that you will never get that hour of your life back...I'm not sure Kavinsky is worth it.
Here's a download link to the game for any brave souls willing to play it:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/kavinsky/id633263643?mt=8
