The objective of Vase Craze, created by Mehware, is to move a basket around a warehouse floor and catch vases before they fall off the end of conveyor belts.

It’s a concept, which reminds me a lot about Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times or an episode from I Love Lucy, both which played off the crushing tediousness of factory work. One of the best-looking iterations of this game genre in the App Store is Digital Chocolate’s Chocolate’s Frenzy, which I like quite a bit.

Vase Craze, unfortunately, doesn’t advance the genre.

Launch Vase Craze from the main menu and choose a level: newb, tolerable or hardcore mode. The more difficult modes have more conveyor belts and require a more sophisticated game plan to catch as many vases as possible before they crash to the floor.

Each conveyor belt turns from black to yellow whenever a vase appears. Tapping on the belt, sends the basket to that belt. Each level allows five crashes.

Tap the far wall and you’ll go back to the main menu.

I experienced several problems with Vase Craze (it was glitchy) and I eventually contacted the developer, Matthew Harris, to clarify a few things for me.

The problem is Vase Craze has a number of bugs. Yesterday, I wasn’t able to scroll the help menu bar. Today, it worked. The first time around, I couldn’t figure out how to move the basket. I tried to finger drag the basket and slide it using motion control. Neither worked. It didn’t occur to me to tap the conveyor belts. I can be dense sometimes when I don’t have a help menu to guide me.

Vase Craze crashed on me four or five times in my first look at the app. I restarted my iPhone to make sure that wasn’t the problem. The next day, it seemed to run fine, so I don’t know what to make of any of that.

Here’s what I know for certain: This game could win the top prize in an ugly dog contest. The graphics are rudimentary. The basket moves and then stops, or doesn’t move at all, even when tapping vigorously on the conveyor belt. Even when Vase Craze worked reasonably well, I didn’t find the game engaging enough to hold my attention for more than a few minutes, even on the most difficult level.

Vase Craze is $1.99, which isn’t so bad, but I recommend waiting for the next update or two.

(2/23/09 Editor’s Note: The version 1.1 of Vase Craze is now available in the App Store.)

Check out Vase Craze 1.1 in action on YouTube:

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category: Arcade, Games