Tobe's Vertical Adventure Review
Tobe's Vertical Adventure is a rather simple platformer game released for PC on the 19th of July 2011. It's about some guy being dropped into caves by his girlfriend while looking for treasure, what exists of the story is told through very static cutscenes.
The gameplay consists of moving downwards while collecting gems, avoiding hazards and heading for the large treasure chest at the bottom, once you open it a timer starts, the level changes slightly to open more paths and you need to get out as quickly as possible. It's a pretty good idea for a game but the execution just isn't there.
There's two power ups to collect, one is balloons for gliding and the other is a portable rope for climbing. Unfortunately they are only useful in a limited amount of situations and I couldn't find a way to switch items so you need to use the balloons up before you can use the ropes, this is frustrating when you are trying to escape.
There's two characters to choose from, the guy can wall jump, has more health and carry more items and the girl who can only carry one of each item and starts off with 1 hit perform a double jump while losing any advantages the guy has, the double jump is overpowered though and allows you to ignore wall jumping entirely.
The levels are themed around typical video game worlds, the first is a tropical island, the second is an ice world, the third island is a volcano and the last island is a temple filled with traps. It works well for theming of the various hazards but they aren't designed very well and feel a bit too cluttered.
The only difficult thing about this game is getting used to the controls, the awkwardness of the movement, some of the hazards like timed traps and making sure you get to the top in time after triggering the treasure chest, I managed to get there with 30 seconds to spare most of the time. It's not a very long game either I managed to complete it in 90 minutes
The graphics are nice and simple and suit the retro look the game is going for but the main character is blurry for some reason. The sound and music design is also adequate and fits the retro aesthetic but it isn't anything amazing.
Overall I'd give it a 6/10, it's a very short game and it doesn't offer much challenge, decent mechanics or even a good story.
The gameplay consists of moving downwards while collecting gems, avoiding hazards and heading for the large treasure chest at the bottom, once you open it a timer starts, the level changes slightly to open more paths and you need to get out as quickly as possible. It's a pretty good idea for a game but the execution just isn't there.
There's two power ups to collect, one is balloons for gliding and the other is a portable rope for climbing. Unfortunately they are only useful in a limited amount of situations and I couldn't find a way to switch items so you need to use the balloons up before you can use the ropes, this is frustrating when you are trying to escape.
There's two characters to choose from, the guy can wall jump, has more health and carry more items and the girl who can only carry one of each item and starts off with 1 hit perform a double jump while losing any advantages the guy has, the double jump is overpowered though and allows you to ignore wall jumping entirely.
The levels are themed around typical video game worlds, the first is a tropical island, the second is an ice world, the third island is a volcano and the last island is a temple filled with traps. It works well for theming of the various hazards but they aren't designed very well and feel a bit too cluttered.
The only difficult thing about this game is getting used to the controls, the awkwardness of the movement, some of the hazards like timed traps and making sure you get to the top in time after triggering the treasure chest, I managed to get there with 30 seconds to spare most of the time. It's not a very long game either I managed to complete it in 90 minutes
The graphics are nice and simple and suit the retro look the game is going for but the main character is blurry for some reason. The sound and music design is also adequate and fits the retro aesthetic but it isn't anything amazing.
Overall I'd give it a 6/10, it's a very short game and it doesn't offer much challenge, decent mechanics or even a good story.
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