Game Review: Pull Him Out (Mobile – Free to Play)

A few months back we reviewed a free to play game called Save the Girl. We admired how Lion Studios had taken the fake adverts on social media or the web for free to play games like Gardenscapes, Homescapes, Fishdom, Hero Wars and more and turned them in to a game.

They took the shocking false advertising these game companies were doing and turned it to their advantage. Clever stuff, almost.

Alas, Lion Studios stuck to the free to play type for their ‘parody’ game with what we commonly call now ‘ad spam’. If that wasn’t bad enough though, the games lack of variety and trial & error gameplay left little to really crow about. The end result being nothing but an average free to play game that behaves exactly as all the rest do.

With Save the Girl’s popularity waning, Lion Studios have decided to strike while the iron is hot and release another one. This time called ‘Pull Him Out’, they’ve used the same false advertising we mentioned above to create this game.

This review is for version 1.1.1.

This time it’s not trial & error (at least to the same degree) and instead you’re tasked with removing pins to get your intrepid explorer to safety.

It’s a better game, that much is clear from the start as it actually requires some thought and puzzle solving. Levels with several pins, enemies and traps ask to think about what pins you’re about to release. It rarely gets taxing but it’s nice to have to actually have some challenge.

However, that’s about all that can be said in regard to positive words.

The game is bright and colourful but the visuals are ripped from Save the Girl. The music is incessantly on a loop and you’ll want to mute it after a short while. The sound effects are annoying, and the game has these small performance issues that just make it seem rushed.

Of course, it’s also filled to the brim with pop up ads. Now, you can pay to remove them but that doesn’t stop the game requiring you to watch an ad to unlock new skins or earn more coins. You can spend coins on new skins and improving the look of your ‘museum’ but the prices of these spiral quickly. It can take nearly 10 levels to earn around 1000 coins yet displays in your museum cost upwards of 1200. It’s not like it’s worth it either, the visual upgrades to the museum are hardly amazing.

However, it is nice to have these options available to you. You don’t need to watch pop-up ads, just pay £2.99 to remove them. You don’t need to watch ads to unlock skins, just pay with the in-game currency. Don’t have enough? Get grinding or watch ads. It’s not great but it is a choice.

The question is whether it is worth it and in our opinion, that is a firm no. It’s better then Save the Girl but only just.