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Roby Tumbler Review

Your Anti-Gravity Hero Fix

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Roby Tumbler is yet another physics-based arcade game with a new twist. With its quirky graphics and an even quirkier premise, this game is a class on its own. Part jumping, part platformer, and part puzzle, this game has so many layers it’s hard to box in a certain category.

Yet Another Evil Doctor

The game’s story is that the evil Dr. Bubblegum is on the loose, holding people hostage by gluing them on to walls with gum. The hero, Roby Tumbler has come to save the day. You must help him save these poor victims by shifting the gravity and flying through obstacles. You’ll need to fly to the people who are stuck in walls, and you’ll need to get all of them to clear a level.

While gravity is one factor of the game being physics-based, anti-gravity is the other side of the coin. Tilting your device sideways will move objects around inside the rooms, so you can use this to your advantage, although it doesn’t always work. The room mirrors that of a space-like zero gravity environment, and everything floats — except for the people stuck on the wall.

Swipe Or Tilt To Save The Day

Swiping your fingers up, down and sideways also does the trick, if you want another method. I found that this is more manageable and “controllable” than tilting, although it requires a bit more effort. The game lets you choose which of these two methods you want to use, but you can always head back to the Settings page to change it at any time. Both methods work perfectly well, and either one is just as effective when you get the hang of it.

The shift in gravity might help Roby get otherwise unreachable victims, but it might also do them more harm than good. When shifting gravity to move obstacles away, be careful not to move towards the captives, or else they die — which is obviously the opposite of saving their lives.

The graphics are simple and elegant, much like a dainty comic strip designed for little girls. This doesn’t mean that the game is less compelling, as the game play is surprisingly smooth and zippy. I particularly like how fast Roby zips from one place to another, and how it doesn’t take rocket science to propel him towards the target. The challenge, I feel, is more of how to tilt or swipe objects away while keeping hostages in one piece, and also while not blocking Roby’s path.

Although the game’s main goal is to save all hostages, it also counts the number of jumps. The lesser the jumps, the higher your star rating. Another achievement is PAR, which I’m not really sure stands for anything, but you get this with the least number of jumps made when clearing a level.

Some Short Cuts And Perks

It seems that this superhero likes to mix business with pleasure, as he can also snag valuable items while saving innocent citizens. These items are converted to money when Roby gets them, and that’s totally allowed. You can also collect certain number of points after each level, and these points can be accumulated so you can “buy” a Skip level button. As the name suggests, you can skip a level and go directly to the next one if you simply can’t get past it. This was tempting, but I was too proud to give up.

A Hero Faceoff

After a few levels, Roby faces the evil Dr. Bubblegum and have a merry old time — and by that I mean a nice, big fight between hero and villain. I don’t often see this kind of level in a game, and it’s always feels like a huge accomplishment when you actually win the round. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as hard as I expected, as Dr. Bubblegum turns out to be a guy floating around inside a gooey pink gum, and all it takes to defeat him is to bounce him off the electric rods — you just have to be careful not to get caught in the rods yourself. But, since these boss fights happen after a few levels, I assume this gets harder after each round.

Conclusion

Roby Tumbler is a unique and unexpectedly fun gaming experience. If you’re out there looking for something other than collecting coins and jumping through a vertical landscape, then definitely give this game a try. The graphics may leave much to be desired, but its solid gameplay and unique story gives it a charming twist that’s not often seen in other games.

3.8 / 5

good

Have a blast tilting your phone around to help Roby Tumbler save the day with this interesting new physics-based game. tweet

Kim Barloso · Mar 9, 2013

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