The holiday season may have just ended, but it’s never too early to plan for next year. Bad Pocket Santa, the latest iPhone and iPod Touch app from RetroStyle games, allows you to spread some holiday cheer without breaking the bank, though this particular brand of good will might not be what you’re looking for.
The first thing that Bad Pocket Santa shows you is a festive holiday scene: Santa Claus in his rocking chair, a pleasant wooden house with a wisp of smoke rising from the chimney, and a peaceful white blanket of snow covering the landscape. While this all might be expected from St. Nick’s side of the North Pole, a few quick swipes of the touch screen will make you realize that this isn’t a picture perfect holiday snapshot: the broken glass by Santa’s chair, the bottle and firework icons on the right corner of the screen, and the Acme brand conveyor belt suggest that mischief is in the air.
RetroStyle aptly describes Bad Pocket Santa as an “interactive Christmas card and God simulator.” Sure, you can stare at the smiling elves busily working on presents for the kiddies all that you want, but BPS also lets you corrupt the purity of this pleasant holiday scene at any point. The elves, for instance, can be thrown onto the conveyor belt, resulting in a neatly giftwrapped, highly-agitated little fellow. Santa can be handed a bottle of booze, resulting in a more colorful brand of Christmas cheer than most are used to. Fireworks can also be slapped to the backs of elves for an illuminating light show.
