Gluonia Review
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Gluonia Review

Our Review by Jennifer Allen on April 5th, 2011
Rating: starstarstarhalfstarblankstar :: OK
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Gluonia offers by the book physics based puzzling.

Developer: Tomatillo
Price: $0.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0.0
Device Reviewed On: iPhone 4

Graphics / Sound Rating: starstarstarhalfstarblankstar
Game Controls Rating: starstarstarhalfstarblankstar
Gameplay Rating: starstarstarhalfstarblankstar
Replay Value Rating: starstarstarblankstarblankstar

Overall Rating: starstarstarhalfstarblankstar


Ahh the physics based puzzle game. If I had a dime for every physics based puzzler I've played, I'd have a lot of dimes. That's not to say I don't enjoy them though. Gluonia is certainly enjoyable but it does feel a little by the books in terms of innovation.

Your mission is to save the Gluon creatures and ferry them back to their spaceship. The problem is they can't jump or climb meaning it's down to you to draw lines and place stone blocks and ramps to help them along. It's simple enough to learn as you'd expect from what is primarily a line drawing game and of course more complicated elements do appear in later stages. Some quirks do emerge though that begin to niggle. For instance, you have to press the construction buttons every time you want to build something. Presumably this is so that you can then scroll around the screen without drawing anything but it feels like it could do with some form of simplifying. There's a similar problem when you want to delete an object as I found it surprisingly fiddly to select a line to delete, thus having to reselect the delete button and so on.

It sounds like nitpicking but when these elements form the basis of such an important role in Gluonia, it begins to grate. Hopefully an update will come along to rectify these gripes as other than that, it's a game with potential. There are 60 levels in all which provide a steady difficulty curve. Indeed, you'll find yourself pretty flummoxed by some of the levels even on the easy difficulty level. It does all feel a little typical though with nothing that stands out hugely. There's just no surprise to things, lacking a much needed dose of imagination. I certainly felt myself going through the motions until a fair way into the game when things got a bit more interesting.

Gluonia is worth a look if you're desperate for a new physics based puzzler but currently it just doesn't stand out from the crowd sufficiently enough to be worth recommending above all others.

iPhone Screenshots

(click to enlarge)

Gluonia screenshot 1 Gluonia screenshot 2 Gluonia screenshot 3 Gluonia screenshot 4
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