by Simple GameReviews | Aug 1, 2019 | Indie, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Steam, Xbox
OVIVO From IzHard
A simple momentum and gravity based platformer that mixes art and gameplay.
You play as OVO, a color changing ball with an antenna. Your objective is to reach a spot in the middle of the map. To do this you make your way around the level by moving between colors, using momentum, sliding down slopes, altering gravity, avoiding spikes, or falling off a cliff. After reaching the objective the screen zooms out to display the full map revealing the piece of art that it is.
The gameplay and controls are very simple as the game only has 2 colors in it (Black and White) and uses 1 thumb stick and a single button to switch colors and move between the Black and White areas.
The music is simple, clean, and relaxing which keeps you calm during the later more challenging stages.
Most of the levels are pretty simple and have more than one route to get to the end. It makes traveling around the levels easy and fun during the earlier levels. The levels start becoming more complicated and challenging when new mechanics and obstacles are introduced. Some of the new additions are moving platforms, floating flowers, and color changing spheres. There’s a small learning curve at the start and it returns with a significant difficulty spike on the later stages. It is not always clear what to do or where you need to go and there are many chances to die by falling off objects into spikes or sharp edges. The check point system is pretty good which only has you backtracking for a few seconds which helps to offset the difficulty spike by minimizing the penalty for sudden deaths.
Sadly the game has no story; no spoken or written words at all. It is more of a short experience as it can be completed in about 3 hours.
A simple black and white momentum and gravity based platformer that mixes art and gameplay with a relaxing soundtrack.
OVIVO is available on Xbox, PlayStation 4, Steam and Nintendo Switch. A digital copy of this game was provided to SimpleGameReviews for the purposes of reviewing the game.
by Simple GameReviews | Apr 25, 2019 | Indie, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Steam, Xbox
Crashbots from Sometimes You
An Auto-runner were you make your way through the levels as a robot collecting stars and coins, finding power to keep your robot alive, and picking up robot parts to build/unlock another robot.
As the robot you can jump, slide, and shoot. Each action consumes energy as does taking damage.
There are traps all over the levels to damage you. Some can trigger chain reactions causing you to get hit more than once. Once your power is depleted you die.
You need to collect the stars scattered on the levels to gain access to the other worlds.
You also collect coins by finding them during the race and by earning them by completing challenges during the levels. They are used to upgrade your robot to reduce the amount of energy consumed per movement or reduce energy drained by damage taken.
It has 2 modes; a World mode and an Endless mode. The endless mode allows you to keep playing and trying to increase your distance.
The controls need some work as they aren’t always responsive and can end up getting you damaged or dead and become very frustrating.
The artstyle is clean, simple, and colorful.
The audio could use some work as it seems to use the same music on every level.
I found the game to be good in short sessions but too frustrating to play for longer periods. If the controls were better it would’ve been more fun and less aggravating.
