Gyro+ Review

Let me start this review off with a warning: Gyro+ is practically impossible to find on the App Store. The search functionality on iOS basically ignores the “+” in the title and every other app that uses the word “Gyro” in its title or description comes up first. Seriously, there’s only 45 players on Game Center as of launch, which just seems low. Somewhere an SEO expert is weeping. IF this game sounds interesting, keep that handy “Buy Now” link above handy.

So, Gyro+. This is an abstract puzzle game that involves spinning a disc around in order to catch orbs of different colors in the section of the same color on the disc. Some orbs are powerups, increasing health, creating orbiting orb-obliterators, or slowing down time. Others are powerdowns, that if caught in the wrong section, will cause things like speedups to occur. Don’t let this happen.

Gyro+ has an incredibly simple concept to grasp, and pretty much anyone should be able to pick it up right away. The game only sticks with the three different sections – having more sections seems like a natural yet unexplored iteration on the concept – so the challenge comes from increasingly-complex patterns, increasing speed, and ofendurance. Players earn a multiplier for collecting orbs, that increases over time, and missing an orb decreases the multiplier. So, not messing up not only preserves the multiplier, but makes it easier to get high scores sooner.

There’s an interesting ranking system that’s based on high scores. Getting to a certain rank is necessary to unlock Time Trial mode, which is a 90-second rush that grants extra time based on how high the multiplier is, along with the Checkpoint functionality. This restarts a game at 90 seconds before the end of the highest scoring game, making it easier to max out scores. As well, it makes the rank system feel like a good mix between pure progression and skill. A Game Center leaderboard for “best score starting from the beginning” would be a great addition, though.

The controls have two ways to rotate the disc: a faster rotating slider at the bottom, and a slower rotation by sliding one’s finger around the disc itself. The former method generally works best; it can be very fast but there’s a configurable sensitivity as well. The latter tends to go just too slowly to be all that useful.

Gyro+ is a remarkably simple game, and should present some fun challenges to puzzle game fans looking for something new.