Casual games have really taken off in the last couple years and it’s in no small part due to the folks over at Rovio and Angry Birds but, they’re no longer the king. Physics has proven itself as a mechanic in games that not only resonates with casual gamers but all gamers. The key to developing a good game to take advantage of this however is not just to throw it in there but to make a game that works with it. That sort of marriage between gameplay and setting is what made Angry Birds so successful but now, we have a contender for their crown as the casual masters of physics based gaming – Jellyflop. Read on to see why we might have a new champion in town.
Description: When playing Jellyflop you’re thrown into the ocean to assume the role of Jelly, a jelly fish who one day sees the sea gulls up above and wishes to fly. When a feather falls down to the sea he has an idea! If Jelly can find enough feathers then surely he’ll be able to reach the same heights as his winged friends! Either way, it’s your job to help Jelly get his hands on all the feathers he can get. In order to do this you’ve got to get Jelly to the feathers on the opposite side of the level. It’s not always easy but it’s almost always fun! Take a look at the trailer below:
How It Works: All you have to is to go ahead and install the game from the Play Store – no further downloads needed here. Once you’ve gone and launched the app for the first time you’ll be greeted with a cutscene of Jelly looking up to the sea gulls and ultimately, what gives him the idea to go on this adventure in the first place.
Brilliantly, the game explains how to play the game as you using the first few levels as a sort of tutorial as you can see below:
It’s really quite intuitive and once you get past the basics the games lets you solve Jelly’s problems on your own. You can pivot and resize however many lines you’ve drawn. However, you need to make sure that you don’t run out of jelly in the bottom left – making lines smaller will refill your meter and making them any bigger will reduce the amount you have. You can draw as many as you like and that really comes in handy later on when faced with things like the teleporters:
It’s important to collect as many of the droplets as you can because you can unlock hats for Jelly and dress him up in hats from the left hand side of the pause menu. You can also pet Jelly as well, great little feature for kids!
Opinion: There’s no getting away from it, Jellyflop reminds me very much of both Angry Birds and Cut the Rope but that’s certainly not a bad thing at all. After all, Battlefiend is a lot like Call of Duty but both very different games. There’s a good balance between flexibility and a linear game path in Jellyflop, it’s clear what you need to do but how you do it is up to you and whilst there’s probably only a few methods to successfully complete a level, you’re given the impression that there’s far more out there. Which is what we want from games that we interact with by touch – it’s something that’s more intuitive than anything else and so our games should become that way as well.
Ratings
- Speed (4/5) – Whilst the game starts off quickly with a good tutorial some levels will really slow you down – you’ll just have to think harder!
- Features (5/5) – The combination of physics and puzzle mechanics here work really well and they’re something that a lot of players will enjoy.
- Theme (5/5) – Right from the opening cutscene you can see that there’s been a lot of care taken with visuals – the game has immense charm.
- Overall (5/5) – I’ve really enjoyed Jellyflop and I’m sure that it’ll appeal to all ages out there.
Pros
- Gameplay is fun and never repetitive.
- Stunning visuals will appeal to all, young or old.
- Being able to customise Jelly’s appearance will be good for the kids.
- Tutorial at the beginning of Jellyflop really helps.
Cons
- The steep jump in difficulty from the tutorial to the coming levels might turn some off.
Conclusion: There’s so much to love about Jellyflop that only the biggest of PC and console gamers will dismiss this and even if they did they’d be foolish to because this is one of the best games coming to Android. It’s got appeal for young and old audiences alike and is particularly a game you play with the kids without any worry of content. At the same time though, the levels are challenging enough to keep casual gamers more than occupied with what’s on offer! If you haven’t done so already, go ahead and get it in the Play Store now!