Somersault Review
Price: $5.99
Version Reviewed: 1.01
Device Reviewed On: iPod Touch
Graphics / Sound Rating:
![star](https://static.148apps.com/img/star.png)
![star](https://static.148apps.com/img/star.png)
![blankstar](https://static.148apps.com/img/blankstar.png)
![blankstar](https://static.148apps.com/img/blankstar.png)
![blankstar](https://static.148apps.com/img/blankstar.png)
Game Controls Rating:
![star](https://static.148apps.com/img/star.png)
![star](https://static.148apps.com/img/star.png)
![blankstar](https://static.148apps.com/img/blankstar.png)
![blankstar](https://static.148apps.com/img/blankstar.png)
![blankstar](https://static.148apps.com/img/blankstar.png)
Gameplay Rating:
![star](https://static.148apps.com/img/star.png)
![star](https://static.148apps.com/img/star.png)
![blankstar](https://static.148apps.com/img/blankstar.png)
![blankstar](https://static.148apps.com/img/blankstar.png)
![blankstar](https://static.148apps.com/img/blankstar.png)
Replay Value Rating:
![star](https://static.148apps.com/img/star.png)
![star](https://static.148apps.com/img/star.png)
![blankstar](https://static.148apps.com/img/blankstar.png)
![blankstar](https://static.148apps.com/img/blankstar.png)
![blankstar](https://static.148apps.com/img/blankstar.png)
Overall Rating:
![star](https://static.148apps.com/img/star.png)
![star](https://static.148apps.com/img/star.png)
![blankstar](https://static.148apps.com/img/blankstar.png)
![blankstar](https://static.148apps.com/img/blankstar.png)
![blankstar](https://static.148apps.com/img/blankstar.png)
While there's a neat idea behind Somersault, it isn't executed well. For one thing, Flip doesn’t bounce with real physics – he bounces like a Super Breakout ball, a weightless thing propelled by your push through space. This makes planning his bounces a difficult task; and while the game tries to mitigate that with large gray arrow pointers, the fact that they needed to add those arrows is telling. I would much rather see a more realistic and reliable physics to the game that I could anticipate and plan for.
In part because of the physics, bouncing Flip is also more complicated than it should be. You don’t just flick him or tilt with the accelerometer; you have to draw bouncing pads in his path, with their length determining the force of the bounce and their angle determining direction.
Actually, many things in Somersault seem to be more complex than they need to be. For example, to select a menu option, you don’t tap a button, but instead have to slide a slider. Or, when you lose a life, you must tap Flip in rapid succession to “resuscitate” him. I enjoy novel touch interactions as part of the game play experience, but Enter-Brain-Ment would do much better to innovate more touch controls during actual game play, then to unnecessarily complicate these ancillary moments.
Ultimately, Somersault has some interesting ideas behind it, but it falls flat in the execution. Especially for its regular price of $5.99, it's not a game that I can recommend.