iOS (iPhone/iPad) Critic Reviews

The relentless pace is matched by responsive controls (tilt or touchscreen, your choice) and irrepressibly zany audiovisual design. More capable as a distraction than a compulsion, GoatUp is tasty enough to chew on for a couple hours.

I have long counted Jeff Minter's Minotaur Rescue and Minotron: 2011 as two of the very best games in the App Store, and I can tell you that GoatUp solidly lives up to the greatness of those titles. It's quite a different sort of game, but the pieces come together just as nicely.

So now I've finally seen what all the fuss is about.

GoatUp fits in nicely with the Llamasoft pantheon of abstract titles, though this vertical platformer certainly feels 'straighter' than most even despite twists like killing off enemies with your offspring.

Like Doodle Jump on absinthe, GoatUp is another welcome dose of Minter madness.

GoatUp does not look or sound that great, but it still has a great retro appeal. The most important feature of GoatUp are the controls, and they are also the best aspect of the app.

If you're a veteran, a discordant Blue Danube from Manic Miner and characters from 8-bit classics will raise a smile; if not, revel in the lovely craziness and wonder why all iOS games don't have this much imagination and heart.

GoatUp manages to be a unique experience despite being just another Doodle Jump knockoff. Who could have imagined that kissing goats, grazing the land and jumping upwards could be so much fun.

Goat Up isn't the most challenging game Llamasoft has ever made, but it's certainly one of its most imaginative and lovely: meanness would seem out of place. No other developer could, or would, turn the twitch platformer into a farmyard idyll.