What two gameplay features make a good platformer game? Timing and tricky obstacles. Jump’n’Roll Eyeball is a simple yet challenging game that heavily relies on those two features to offer up a classic yet compelling platformer that anyone would be happy with, whether or not they were raised on Super Mario or not. The game features a simple character, dubbed Eye (you can guess why) that you can control with simple one-tap controls. He can either jump or roll, and to do so you need good timing. A long hold will cause him to roll, while a short hold and release will deliver a jump that might be too short. Jumping and rolling is how Jump’n’Roll Eyeball asks players to navigate the levels, and doing so ends up being really quite tricky.
To get started with Jump’n’Roll Eyeball all you need to do is go ahead and download it from the Play Store, you’ll be asked to sign in to Google Play Games and then you can get started.
All of the relevant settings and options are found here, including the ability to remove ads and purchase other game modes. Seeing as we’ve never played the game before, we’ll go ahead and play the tutorial, accessed by the scholar’s hat on the right-hand side.
The tutorial is refreshingly short and sheet, and the long and short of things is that you need to tap and hold for varying lengths of time to either jump or roll. Timing your taps and holds with the moving obstacles is what makes up the majority of the challenge in Jump’n’Roll Eyeball.
In the above shot, you can can see the meter filling up. Here it’d be best to go into a roll, which is fairly easy to do, as you just hold and he’ll start rolling. Releasing at the right time to perform a jump is where things can get quite tricky.
In fact, many of the screenshots I have of the game are me failing even the first few levels, over and over again. They weren’t kidding when they said simple yet challenging.
One nice touch that I really appreciated was a little dotted line that appears when you retry a level, this lets you know that this is how far you had come in your previous attempts.
There are other little things that Jump’n’Roll Eyeball offers that can help players struggling a little bit though:
For me, Reveal Mode didn’t appear to be all that helpful, as I was more frustrated with the timing aspect of the game. Holding for a jump leaves most of your brain preoccupied with getting that right, rather than making sure you’ve timed the jump right to avoid the obstacle in the first place.
Overall though, I did have fun with Jump’n’Roll Eyeball, I think it’s a love-letter to classic platformers, put together with some modern twists. I genuinely found the game difficult, and I do wish there was a way to change the control scheme, perhaps to something that has a single tap for a short jump and double-tap for longer, rather than relying solely on the whole tap and hold mechanic. Still, the game is undeniably easy to control, you just have to get used to them, which is what I’ve been struggling with. As far as look and feel goes, the artwork here is simple, yet appealing, and I can’t see any reason why the majority of casual games and even some veteran gamers won’t enjoy this.
Ratings
- Speed (4/5) – Everything with Jump’n’Roll Eyeball runs fine, and the pacing is good as well.
- Theme (4/5) – Simple and down to Earth seems to be the aim with the overall look and feel here, and it works well.
- Features (4/5) – While simple and easy to understand, the control system is difficult to master. Level design is tricky and really, this is a pretty great simplistic platformer that’s just good fun.
- Overall (4/5) – A game that has clearly been developed to a high standard with lots of polish, Jump’n’Roll Eyeball is one of the more appealing simple games available in the Play Store today.
Pros
- Simple and easy control system to understand, while also offering a good level of challenge.
- The Eye character should appeal to pretty much anyone, and there’s no content here that younger players shouldn’t be exposed to.
- Jump’n’Roll Eyeball will satisfy those looking for a serious challenge, as well as casual users just looking for something simple.
- Doesn’t pretend to be anything more than just a fun, simple and addictive Android game, which is what it is.
Cons
- A different control option would be nice to see, as it can take some time to get used to the tap and hold scheme.
- Pretty much everything needs an in-app purchase to unlock, including the next set of levels.
Jump’n’Roll Eyeball is a game that goes back to classic gaming roots and whether or not you remember old games like these, this is good fun nonetheless. It has simple and easy to understand controls, even if they can take some time to get used to, and overall it’s well worth trying out, after all it is free to play.