Parking Frenzy 2.0 for Android

It is not often that you see Indian games shooting to the top of the popularity lists in the Android Market. Well, Parking Frenzy has managed to do just that. And it has done so with a potent mix of innovation and simplicity.

For all the talk of higher resolutions and console-like graphics, the stark fact is that--barring a few exceptions like Infinity Blade on the iPad--most games that have made it big on smartphones have been the ones that have been more casual in nature and easy to play. Titles like Angry Birds, Where's My Water and Cut The Rope have succeeded because of their innovative and easy-to-grasp gameplay rather than cutting-edge graphics and special effects. And it is here that Parking Frenzy scores.

As the game's title indicates, it is all about parking your car with minimum fuss. You start out with a vehicle, are shown where to park it and go right ahead and do so. Sounds simple? And SO like some of the other car parking games that we have seen on both iOS and Android, doesn't it? Well, not quite. For, the developers have thrown in a neat spin--literally--on the whole affair. Instead of asking you to muck around with direction keys or tapping the screen to show where the vehicle is headed, they added an on-screen steering wheel that you use just like a real steering wheel, by moving it in either direction.

That might not feel like much but what it does is make parking a much more challenging task, and also makes the game a whole lot more challenging to play than other traffic management games. You have to control the speed (you can go straight or in reverse using buttons on the left of the display) and also have to keep steering carefully to ensure you do not bump into anything (three bumps and you are dead and have to start from scratch). Initially, the game is straightforward and you just have to take car in more or less a straight line with a few turns, but then things start getting complicated, as roundabouts, other cars, and God help us, pedestrians start appearing. All of which makes for an absolutely addictive and at times incredibly infuriating experience. No, the graphics are not cutting edge, the steering can seem eccentric and wobbly at times, and we wish the car had brakes (right now, the only way to stop is to take your finger off the forward button), but even with that,  Parking Frenzy remains one of those games that you keep itching to return to. We could see 16 levels in the game we downloaded and hope that developers will keep adding to them.

Give it a try if you have an Android device. It's free. And shows that the Indian developers have some neat tricks up their sleeves too.