Grabbity Review

Grabbity is a game about a rabbit called a Grabbian who defies gravity and also grabs things. It’s a very punny title, but it has layers too. This is a platformer where players must try to get to the goal, earning stars for completion, item collection, and speedy times. Yes, we’ve all played this game or something like it before, right? Wrong! Grabbity is a game where the player moves the protagonist around by rotating the device to change the effect of gravity. Gravity is always down, but “down” is a variable concept. The way to the goal is done by shifting gravity in ways that Newton never could have expected.

The grab mechanic is probably the most crucial and also annoying part of Grabbity. It serves as an effective tool for keeping from suddenly dying, especially gravity is so inexact in this game. However, deploying it requires being very still, and often it can be difficult to be just still enough to grab on to the floor. I’ve died several times from thinking I grabbed on to the floor, only to then find that – nope! Also, spinning around the iPad while holding down on the screen is just awkward, though a necessary part of the game. Gravity is very inexact is well. Sometimes it winds up that death can happen by ‘falling’ to the side too quickly. Of course, sometimes I’ve had falls that got me further than I thought, and didn’t kill me.

Grabbity is freemium, with 20 levels included for free that give a sizable taste of the game, with two 30-level packs available for $0.99 each. The free taste is enough for those curious about the concept to see if they want more, but given how badly Gasketball’s freemium model bombed compared to the consumable IAP model, I hope Grabbity works out better. I fear it won’t.

As a free game with a decent amount of free content and an interesting-if-flawed concept, Grabbity is worth checking out. I definitely find myself interested to see more of what can be done with this concept.