Christmas Panda Lite for the iPhone is frustratingly awesome. You will find yourself addicted to hitting the tiny white snowballs that shoot you into the air and obsessed about hitting the red snowballs that catapult you even further.

Download from iTunes.

Christmas Panda Lite is a simple game with simple controls. At least that’s your first thought. How can a little panda stand in the way of me and my glorious victory… easily. Controlling the panda is simple and difficult at the same time.

The simple part is that players can use any of their fingers to “jump” their panda to the first snowball, which gives the panda a little boost to get to the next snowball. After the boost, players will need to anticipate their panda’s next move and slide their finger in the direction of the next snowball.

Hit white snowballs for tiny boost and red for huge boost!

No snowball, no jump and then the panda falls to its cold snowy doom below. Alright, maybe it’s not that dramatic, but you get the picture.

What’s good is that while white snowballs give you a tiny boost, red snowballs give you a huge catapult like the panda just drank 15 Red Bulls. Simple, right?

No, it’s not simple. The reason? Guiding the panda with your finger is not easily done. Even though the player is able to use the same finger to jump and guide the panda, “guiding” the panda is difficult because when the panda hits a snowball, it races past and usually underneath your thumb. Therefore, leaving players in the dark as to where the panda is and leaving the player frantically waiting for the panda to emerge, which usually results in the player lifting their thumb and watching panda fall to its cold, dark, wintery doom.

Final Verdict
Christmas Panda Lite has all the potential to become an addictive, on the bus or in a boring meeting type game. However, given its near impossible controls, I believe it will leave most players more frustrated than satisfied. Should you take the time to download? Yes, but only if you’re up for a challenge.

BTW – My best score is 180. Let me know if anyone can top that. However, I just don’t see how it’s humanly possible.

[Download now from iTunes.]