Claustrophobic Review

There's not a huge amount of depth to Claustrophobic but it is, at least, quite entertaining in its own simple way. Channeling Endless Runner mentalities, Claustrophobic calls itself an Endless Roller as the game is all about rolling around the arena for as long as possible, without hitting the walls around the outskirts.

It's a relatively well thought out game. Relying on tilt based controls, things could have been very frustrating but Claustrophobic calibrates the controls seconds before starting meaning that it's theoretically possible to play from any angle, i.e. sitting or laying. This ensures that it's one tilt based game that's possible for the commuter or sleepy gamer to play just as easily.

Things start out pretty simply, merely requiring players to keep in the middle of the screen while rolling around to pick up the various points icons that boost the player's score. As things progress, however, the walls tend to move nearer before stretching back out. This change in size makes things a little trickier, adding to the challenge. Power-ups such as extra points and lives smooth things out, while giving players the means in which to boost their score further. There's also the intriguing addition of video recording functionality, making it possible to share videos of completed sessions. Something that I, frustratingly, only noticed after gaining a high score I was proud of. It's a neat idea and one that I'd love to see in other titles.

Ultimately, though, Claustrophobic's gameplay is a little on the shallow side. There's the prospect of new updates at a later date but, for now, it doesn't quite have the longevity of other Endless Running games. The addition of challenges could have helped this significantly, so hopefully that will be one such update. For now, though, Claustrophobic is an interesting idea but one that lacks that "just one more go" factor.