iPhone App: 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: 