iPhone App: Gomi

December 27th, 2009

Gomi

= 3 stars

Help the rolling and jumping Gomi clean up colorful garbage on colorful worlds.

The Good

Amusing combination of Rolando and Katamari. Use the iPhone’s accelerometer to roll a circular blob with eyes from left to right along a world that moves beneath you, and even flips upside down. Jump with a screen swipe, and pick up progressively larger objects scattered about the environment.
Like how your Gomi chararcter is always in the center of the screen and the background shifts behind it.

The Bad

The initially inspiring concept doesn’t result in a great game. The Katamari aspect of picking up objects is occasionally tedious (s0 many things to pick up), and the levels could be better designed – some border on frustration.
The cutesy graphics eventually look amateurish; awkwardly caught between the sketchy, doodle aesthetic and the simple colorform design of Rolando 2.

Conclusion

Gomi has a cool idea and slick gameplay, but personally, the amateurish and off-putting graphics knocked the whole affair down a few notches. I’ve drifted back to Rolando 2 and haven’t picked up Gomi since.

iPhone App Store Link: