Mailboxing Review

A little bit of mischief in a game makes for a good time. Some games may go a little overboard (think GTA and the Gangstar titles) but Mailboxing puts just enough comic mischief in to be suitable to all players. The purpose of the game is to drive around in a car and break down as many mailboxes possible before the gas tank runs dry. With tilt-based and one-tap controls, this simple game is an easy way for mischief-makers to partake in a safe and legal form of mayhem.

Players team up with one of five characters and take to the streets in cars to seek and destroy any mailbox that has been spammed by the evil mailman. The game starts off with only one character, Hairy Bro, and the rest must be unlocked through completing certain tasks. Tilting the device back and forth moves the car from one side of the street to the other and tapping the screen makes the character swing their. The game throws pedestrians and other cars into the mix to complicate the chaos to make it harder to get to every mailbox. Floating gas tanks need to be picked up along to way to keep the car going and hitting pedestrians and other cars will deplete gas very quickly. To make things more difficult, cops are out patrolling the streets looking for any misbehavior. Hitting a mailbox while a cop is on screen will send the game into a high speed chase for a few seconds until the cop eventually gives up.

Knocking down mailboxes and trash cans gets awarded points and the score multiplies with each consecutive destroyed mailbox. If a mailbox is missed, the multiplier starts over. But be careful, because the neighbors fight back and plant exploding mailboxes as decoys that will suck down fuel levels quickly. The game ends once the car runs out of gas.

I think there is a lot to like about this game. The artwork is basic yet appealing and I really like the characters. One downside is that the game can feel a little repetitive. There aren’t very many goals or tasks to complete and once all characters are unlocked the game tends to go a little stale.

Despite the repetitive gameplay, I think Mailboxing is a fun little game for all ages. Younger kids are sure to get a kick out of it, just as long as they don’t get any crazy ideas about batting down mailboxes in real life. For $0.99 it’s a fair deal for what is given and it’s a nice addition to the other mayhem-causing games on the market.