Hit The Island Reviews

I’ve been playing this for about 10 minutes now and I’m honestly really impressed. One neat thing is that although this is called “Hit the Island” after the iPhone 14 Pro’s Dynamic Island, this seems highly optimized for the notch on my 13 Pro Max. Another great thing about HitTheIsland is the fact that in the 10 minutes I’ve been playing, I haven’t had to deal with a single advertisement. So overall, this is a really nice app, and I find it to be quite enjoyable. 😁

I’m digging it, I think you should have a go at it. 2 suggestions, a sensitivity slider in options to control how fast the player controlled island moves. Also, dark mode! Black background, white islands and moving object the player hits the island with, basically flip the b&w around.

When losing a game and watching a video the ball should start off slowly by the time your ready you already lost. Their should also be a pause bottom just in case I need to use the bathroom

I got this game like 20 minutes ago and it’s really fun, but when I lose and get to the score screen the replay button is under the screen and I can’t get to it so I have to leave HitTheIsland and go back to start a new round. I’m probably just missing something but I can’t figure it out.

Read a article about the devs and this game Wednesday before the 14 was released. First new app I downloaded as soon as I got my new phone Friday. It’s a lot of fun and addicting a great way to kill some time that turns into hours trying to get a higher score 👍👍👍

I like the game. It’s simple and yet very enjoyable. One thing I wish for it is that it didn’t stop background music playback.

If you’re playing music, on a flight, for example, and you want to play the game, as soon as you open HitTheIsland the music stops playing.

This is doable for the developer. The right implementation is needed to not stop music playback, but rather either not play the game’s own sound effects, or overlay them in the audio pipeline.

Right now, even if I disable sound effects on HitTheIsland , it still stops Music’s playback as soon as HitTheIsland is opened. Really annoying.

Fun little notch game I like it. Just came across it and I was worried it was just for the 14pro but it works on my 12. I love that it makes my notch jiggle. Not something I could play for a long time but so far enjoy playing this when I feel like and go on to something else then I might come back later see if I can beat my score.

It’s a good game to keep you occupied when bored. My only suggestion would be that it seems a little laggy, would like if the ball was a little more fluid since it seems to skip around sometimes.

I’ve been playing and each time i lose it makes me close HitTheIsland completely. for some reason i’m not able to tap the replay button or any of the menu buttons. other than that it’s a fun minimalistic game that i’ve enjoyed so far

I love games like this but once you lose, the replay option and ad option are totally gray and almost invisible I can’t click them, I have to close HitTheIsland and open it again. So I don’t end up playing it as much as I would.

I played the original Atari game as a child. It was much better because you could control the ball somewhat based on where the ball hit the bar. I’ve played this a lot, and no matter where the ball comes in contact with the bar, the flight is the same. So it is a hit/no hit only, no control.

I really like the use of the island in the game, it’s creative and does exactly what it should. However, I have slight lag on the tail of the ball sometimes where it glitches and the smooth animations start to look clunky, only reason for the 4 stars otherwise it would be 5

Good game but!?
A problem in game that i cant start a new game after a game ended Until i close the game and open it again because the replay icon and the other icons not working !
I am using iphone 12 pro max
Plz solve the problem ; i liked the game !
Thanks …

I recently downloaded the game and I like it a lot but when I do loose I am unable to replay the game directly I have to exit out the game then play again since most of the buttons are blocked out, other than that I love the game

You don’t need an iPhone 14 Pro with Dynamic Island to play! You can play with your older iPhone. What a fun game!

I would suggest making the acceleration of the ball increment slower over time, but that’s just my opinion. Great job

Such a simple concept executed beautifully. The haptics are snappy and fun. Colors change. Number of balls and ball speed increases. Enjoyed playing it on my iPhone 12 and it’s obviously even better on my new iPhone 14 Pro. Love it! Well done!

The game is as simple as it sounds. It’s a good way to pass some time. The slight haptics when the ball bounces around is a nice touch. The sound effects are crisp. Definitely worth giving a try.

I thought it only works on the 14 pros but it has the same optimization on every other iPhone and I'm enjoying it on my 11 pro.
Also the haptics in this game are from another world

Honestly it’s a great way to fill short amounts of time. I’d love if there was a dark mode though. A way this could be done is having a white outline around the notch/island and the edges

I’m playing on the iPhone 13 and it’s really cool but I wish there was a setting where you can choose the “notch model” to match the size of your iPhones notch

The idea and premise behind this game is awesome, and I really love playing it, however there are 2 problems that have come to my attention.
For reference, I am on a 14 pro max.

The first issue I have is the stuttering. The ball is almost flickery at times, though I believe the developers are working on fixing this.

My second issue is that the game is considerably easier on the 14 pro as opposed to the pro max. This is because the island module is the same on both phones, but since the regular pro is smaller, the island is actually bigger in relation to the screen itself. This means that the hit box of the island is much easier to hit on the pro than on the pro max.

This makes it frustrating as a pro max user, as competing on leaderboards and with my friends unfair, as anybody with a normal pro has an advantage over anybody with a pro max.

Now for my suggestions.

As for the skill difference required for the 2 phones, the hit box could be made larger on the pro max to compensate.

Another suggestion I have is for a new mode where throughout play, the island itself will change shape. I think there are so many opportunities for other modes and stuff that could really make this game shine.

All in all, I love this game, and I am excited to see how it hopefully continues to develop. I hope the developers see my review and take some of these things into consideration.

This game is different from a lot of the games you’ll find on HitTheIsland store. I find myself playing a couple rounds once every few hours when I’m bored. It’s very simple, the objective is to bounce a ball back and fourth and hit the black box and the top. Every couple of hits a power up box can pop up and change the game in a variety of different ways. It is quite challenging for sure, but it’s not impossible. My only issue being that sometimes the ball will go right into the corner and the only way to hit it is to basically swipe your finger right off the phone. This becomes annoying when you reach later stages when the ball is going super fast. It leaves you with no recovery time.

Don’t know what changed recently, but since the update where it shows the voodoo and unity logos, HitTheIsland has gone downhill. Graphics are slower and lower quality, and in app purchases I have made have had features removed - specifically in the no ads feature. I paid for the no ads feature so I didn’t have to watch an ad in order to try again, instead I had to pay 30 stars. Now that option is no longer available, replaced with the ad option, despite having restored the no ads purchase. Not cool to take away features I paid for.

I also don’t like the increase in data used to track me. I might just remember incorrectly, but I don’t think HitTheIsland used to track as much. I try and avoid downloading and spending money on apps that track, so I was surprised to see recently that it tracks so much.

I do love this game! There are minimal ads and it’s cute and fun, BUT-up until only like a week ago, it was run by some company that I didn’t know of, but now, it’s run by voodoo, (which isn’t a problem but like) is glitchier, i lost all of my progress (the stars you get, free slow downs and stuff) and it’s not available on Apple Watch anymore! The whole reason I got HitTheIsland was so I could have a game to play on my watch during school when phones aren’t allowed, and now that it’s not on my watch I’m upset and there’s nothing else quite like HitTheIsland on the Apple Watch App Store, so I am very disappointed in the ownership being transferred.

I really like playing the game specially when I’m traveling, its very entertaining.
I have some ideas it may help you guys a lot.
1. First I would suggest a nice calm relaxing music while we play it will really entertain people playing it more. And the noises when we hit the ball and the dynamic island is a bit annoying.
2. If you guys would add the iOS emojis instead of the boring balls that hurts our eyes lol it would be so much fun and it will literally fit more the concept.
And we need more interesting backgrounds and Live Backgrounds too.
3. Add more fun options on the mystery box like :
animals on top of the Dynamic Island moving kinda slowly from the start of the island to the end and if don’t hit the island on time the animals will fall and we would lose some extra stars. That’s a very nice idea, Cash app me lol. Add a laugh sound if the animals fall that would be very funny lol.

Thank you ,keep it going!!!

I am playing this on the iPhone 11 Pro Max how well it works with the notch is impressive and the creative aspect of being able to use something like the notch which is typically seen as an annoying side effect of a device as a part of a game makes you feel like you stream really creates this bridge between hardware and software.

Edit: a feature that I would add is the ability for system to switch to dark theme for when my phone auto goes into dark mode when it gets dark

I paid $2.99 to remove ads and everything was working fine. Less than a month later I lost all progress on my game with high scores and I lost all the stars (in game currency) that I had saved. On top of that ads have come back to my game. Restore purchases did nothing and when I tried to pay AGAIN to remove ads it says I have already done so and if I would like to remove ads for free. I accept and the ads are still there. I have contacted Apple and they said there is nothing they can do and I need to reach out to the developers. I have gone to the developers website but I cannot find any kind of contact info via email or social media for help. This has been so frustrating.

I was playing the game on my iPhone XS, and I found the dark mode button, so I turned it on and played it. I saw some white stick out underneath the notch. Other than that it’s great! Apple Watch version is kind of hard though. Thank you for creating this great fun game!

Edit: even after update 1.1.4 this is still occurring. I’m pretty sure this bug is also on iPhone X, XS/XS max, XR, 11/11pro, and 12 and 12 pro.

Also suggestion: make it fully available on iPad, and add support for the Mac (with notch) and Mac (without notch, digital notch/dynamic island) and Apple TV!

I LOVE this concept. It’s such a unique spin on an already unique spin. I think it’s so simple and a great time passer for lines and other just general “waiting” times.

Just a quick suggestion:This could be because I haven’t scored higher than 17 yet, but it would be cool if you changed the size of the Island dynamically during the game. Like pop out different pieces and parts of the island as Apple has shown (so a longer island, or a Long Island and a little circle, etc). Could add some fun to the game!

since voodoo bought this game is has caused me harm. I loved this game. It was the best game and was my #1 played game. Then voodoo changed it. the notch doesn't bounce like it used too, very bad. it reset my stuff. everything is gone my backgrounds, my paddles, my balls. My high score of 156 is gone. forever because of this stupid update. The game doesn't hit like it used too. it used to be so fun and i would play it every day. now i can't even stand to look at the laggy gameplay and horrible bounces. they made the game worse quality. if you are also upset about this, they, they have another game called HTI (hit the island) pinball. which is not owned by voodoo and is much better quality. voodoo ruined this game for me and my siblings.

The game was good when it started out just as a fun brick breaker sort of game but now it’s different. The game is full of ads and has an overall cheaper feel than the game it was. Some changes were also made to make the game easier but that’s not the point of a game, it’s meant to be a challenge. I feel like all mobile games now are just copies of others and are too easy. And most of all, they are money grabs with watching ads almost a requirement to unlock certain items or levels. I don’t think I will be playing this game again as the devs messed it up.

This game was 5 stars until I tried the brick break. Not only is it poorly made with me getting constantly stuck and having to quick the game and doing it again, to just having it take way way too long for a mobile level. Honestly the brick break game-mode should be removed altogether. I do not see a way of fixing this. It is very lazy and clearly not player or person tested because of all the glitches and just how boring and bad it is. The only reason this is not 5 stars is because of that game mode, otherwise it would at least deserve 4.

I don’t know why you guys made this game no longer playable on the Apple Watch, but I’m sure it was for a pretty good reason. Though if there was any way it could be available back on the Apple Watch that would be great considering how fun this game is when you’re bored and don’t have you’re phone.

Edit: Thank you guys for responding to my review and bringing it back on the watch. I love playing this game a lot.

I know it’s not necessarily meant to be an overly competitive game but the addition of leaderboards unless they are per device means it should be equalized. For example on a standard 14 Pro the island is a larger percentage of the top of the screen than on the Max. Having an option to equalize it would be great. (This would mean making the island bigger on the max so that it is the same ratio of dead space to target as the pro). Alternatively have the leaderboards be per-device max and pro on separate boards for example.

Awesome game otherwise!

HitTheIsland is a fun distraction - especially when you need to kill a little time and turn off the brain for a bit.
Can’t wait to see what you do to make it even better.
One issue I’ve discovered adds to comments in another review. While it worked fine with Display Zoom set to Larger Text on my iPhone 12 Pro, things don’t quite line up with the Dynamic Island while in the same mode on my iPhone 14 Pro.

I love that the developers actually care about their players. I love how the new update offers us to keep playing the old version if we don’t like the new updates. I love how everything is so fairly priced (with in-game currency). I love that we don’t have to buy the currency with real money and that it’s relatively easy to earn enough coins through regular gameplay. Overall this is the most fair game I’ve played. Thanks guys!

This game is pretty good but I want it so it can be like if you you’re using an iPhone that doesn’t have a notch nor the dynamic island like an iPhone SE the and older phones that don’t have the notch. Please make it so you can switch between all of the notches if you want to iPhone 12 notch you can get it if you want iPhone 13 notch you can get it if you want iPhone 14 notch you can get it OK but still great game Make an update, OK

Title is weird yeah. Ads aren’t good but the ads in this game are. They aren’t in your face or long in duration like a lot of other apps on the store. It’s very bearable and they are easy to exit out of. Therefore I keep on playing the game because I’m never annoyed with the ads. Only complaint is sometimes mid game I switch out of HitTheIsland to do something on my phone and when I get back to playing the ball gets stuck and I have to start over. I don’t mind starting over so I didn’t feel HitTheIsland deserved minus 1 star.

So I used to love this game/play it every day, for me it was always great quality no glitches or flickers or anything. But once I started playing it alot( meaning every day) it started popping up ads every time I would die or let the ball touch the ground. I really would love this game if it didn’t give me ads every time I died, because the ads we’re starting to pop up every seconds it felt like I just stopped playing this game because you couldn’t skip the 1 and a half minute videos.

Update: Developer responded and mentioned they had added the ability to continue playing audio (music/podcasts) while playing the game.

This indeed can now be accomplished, however, it is still not quite correctly implemented.

For example, if you’re playing audio (again, music or podcasts) and you launch the game, the playback immediately stops. You can then swipe down control center and hit play to resume audio playback, and that works. But why does it stop the playback when launching? That’s annoying and i wish they could fix that.

It’s still a really simple and fun app to play, and the developer continues to improve it. That’s great.

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I like the game. It’s simple and yet very enjoyable. One thing I wish for it is that it didn’t stop background music playback. If you’re playing music, on a flight, for example, and you want to play the game, as soon as you open HitTheIsland the music stops playing. This is doable for the developer. The right implementation is needed to not stop music playback, but rather either not play the game’s own sound effects, or overlay them in the audio pipeline. Right now, even if I disable sound effects on HitTheIsland , it still stops Music’s playback as soon as HitTheIsland is opened. Really annoying.

the game WAS great, it was fun and simple and had very few ads. it was a great aesthetically pleasing app but after recent updates it has changed completely. there are SO many ads and you will get ads in the middle of the game which causes you to die, then when you restart you get another ad. the game is also super laggy even with perfect wi-fi. if you get too high the game often crashes and you lose all
your progress. the ball will also lag a lot and just give you a headache.
despite all these cons, the game is really fun and very cohesive. the game is very fun to just distract yourself and even calm yourself down. i will definitely not be deleting but if the ads get worse, so will my patience.

overall, great game!