You may have seen our video review of Tattoo Mania a few months back, if you didn’t well where were you? Stephen Joell-Ireland came to the conclusion it was an addictive twitch game that keeps you going back for more, but how will Tattoo Mania: Halloween Edition pan out, what’s different and will it keep those attention spans locked? Or will your mind drift off like a Zombie?

Story – N/A

No real story here, just you play as a pledging Tattoo Artist whom must make as much money as possible. It’s hard work being an ink master!

Gameplay – 7

So it’s a brand new iteration of the game and it only costs a stunning 60p. So in terms of value, it’s brilliant. You basically have a tattoo parlour with a growing list of customers that need their ink fix, so you draw on the Tattoo template until the ink is visible and crisp and the customers are happy with your work, once they are happy you get paid, rinse repeat that’s the whole game in a nutshell. How the game can end is if you piss a customer off by hurting them too much with your needle or they become a bunch of impatient bastards and walk off. To combat this, you can swap around your customers, which adds as a strategy of using quick reflexes and keeping your calm.

The game offers brand new tattoo templates (20 in total) with five parts of the body you can ink. You can keep track of your own personal scores as well as going online to visit the high score leader board. The game has a handy help system which teaches you how to play the game, though if you need help you must be pretty retarded, as it’s extremely easy to get to grips with. The touch motion on the iPhone is precise and you can be as ragged and evil as you want with customers or gentle with your touch, just don’t expect them to stand for your shit if you start inking them for your evil pleasures. They’ll walk out and it will be game over for you, you narcissistic ass clown!

Graphics & Audio – 9

Tattoo Mania looks pretty much the same, except for the menu and some pop ups throughout playing. It feels as though the new edition has been tacked on to the existing features. The presentation is very nice with its hand drawn art style, the sounds of crying customers and the loud buzzing of your needle makes you feel like a bad ass biker Tattoo dude. The game has some nice heavy rock music in the background which doesn’t get dull and overall everything here has a nice polish to it.

Fun Factor – 6

For 60p you can’t really go wrong, it’s probably one of the best presented games out there for the price. Don’t expect this title to grab you back for more though, despite there being an online leader board, there really is no incentive to go searching for them top scores, not unless your life has the same excitement as a piece of pocket lint. Unlike other titles I’ve personally played it’s hard to want to play this after owning it for a few days. I think this is mainly down to the fact that there is no real learning curve and the strategy is limited to how quick your reactions are, but I must re-iterate its only 60p and if you’re looking for a quick fix from boredom, this will certainly do its job.

Online – 6

Handy Games have given you an online leader board, but that’s as far as this game goes online. No Facebook integration to post high scores and no online multi-player leaves you a little empty handed. At least there is a high-score board locally and online though. As the added saying goes, you get what you pay for.

Overall Score 7.0/10

For a little Halloween spirit, Tattoo Mania may well be for you, don’t expect any scare on the price. It’s only 60p and that’s a fantastic for a game that costs the same as a can of coke. Bargain!