Stress Baal

I remember downloading this cute game 9 years ago, and found it very adorable. No goals, no sweats, just fun and teases. It’s been a while; my phones are replaced multiple times, my games are changing from one genre to another. Then today, finally, when I got so bored, I went back to my purchase history and scrolled down trying to find something I would love to reinstall. However, nothing made me feel like doing so. So I thought maybe I could go all the way back to the beginning, to see if any older apps/games still work. Then I found you, Baal. This little guy actually got an update after 9 yrs and can be downloaded again :’) I will keep you in my phone and cherish your existence <3

You ever wanted a stress ball? One because you want to punch people in the face and you can't because that's assault and battery. Well, now if you bought a $500 iPad and found this rather obscure app, you can now have one. Don't know why you didn't just buy one for like $5 or get a free one at a trade show, but whatever. This game is fully animated and is free, but it could be a dollar. The game works by you, throwing Stress Baal around the screen. This guy is a devil looking blob that does a different animation every time you throw him. If you throw him at the wall he way turn into goo or Magicarp, and if you throw him into the roof he may just go right through. I say that like it's a bad thing, but it's not. All of the reactions he has has corresponding animations that go with the things he does. If you leave him idle long enough he'll do a random animation, and it'll be a while until you see them all. It's free, it's fun, it's simple, and you better get all of the references.

This app falls under the category of those weird, impossible to categorize apps that are just fun, and serve no really useful purpose... other than keeping you endlessly entertained. The animation is probably the best I've seen yet for an app, and is both charming and brilliantly executed (it really looks like the lil guy is stuck inside your phone, and the transitions are flawless...) You do eventually see all of the scenes there are to see after about 15 minutes of experimentation, so (generally... altho just now I discovered a new one so maybe there js more content than I thought) my only (minor) complaint is I wish we could see more content from this developer, and more devil-squashing, hitting, spinning, etc scenes. All in all, 4& 3/5 (because of the lack of additional content) star rating, esp. at only 99c. (Or is it free now? I can't remember) Either way, quite the bargain, and well worth the stress relief. ( I find pretending he is someone unpleasant you have to deal with to be, disturbingly, quite therapeutic :) )