ROTO Review

ROTO is a one-touch, free-to-play, puzzler from Weraku games. There are many similar titles floating around the iOS App Store, and I can understand why: they have simple pick-up-and-play mechanics that can be successful through smart level design, as opposed to relying on production value or flashiness. That being said, ROTO's minimalistic presentation feels pretty dull more often than not.

To play ROTO, players control a ball-like character that needs to reach its goal by bouncing between rotating surfaces and avoiding obstacles like buzzsaws. This little ball can be launched by a single tap, so players need to time the rotation of their character carefully to make sure they reach the end of the level. Along the way they can also opt to gather stars, which add some challenge to the game and rewards skilled players by letting them by unlock additional chapters for free.

The game is broken up into four chapters, all of which contain stages that focus on a specific mechanic. In the first chapter, ROTO mainly focuses on the fundamentals, giving players a chance to acclimate themselves to the controls and the general concept. However, by the time they reach the final chapter they will be taking advantage of portals to leap from one end of the stage map to the other in the hopes of reaching the goal.

While all of these aspects are functional and competent, the main issue I had with ROTO is that it just isn't very exciting to play. The minimalistic aesthetic doesn't really add much, and since the game itself is a bit derivative the experience mostly felt like playing an also-ran.

I ran into a unique problem while playing ROTO as well. Although it's free-to-play, with the ability to unlock chapters for free, I ran into a situation where I was unable to unlock these chapters even after going through the pains of earning enough stars to do so. I don't know if this was a bug or what, but free players should be aware that might be possible that they'll only have access to the first chapter - even if they gather the requisite 50 stars to unlock the second.

Overall, ROTO is an alright game that only really stands out in negative ways. Although it seems to have all of the features of its genre's ilk, its aesthetic and peculiar issues don't do it any favors. Players looking for a few free-to-play one-touch puzzles may get a sitting or two out of it without having to pay, but beyond that, there seems little reason to pick it up.