Ginger Roll is a 3D platformer developed by IRF Media. It features screen tilt compatibilities and tells the story about a ginger pint-sized boy trapped in a Zorb ball by an evil child genius and must roll and dodge obstacles to escape each level.
Ginger Roll starts off with our main protagonist Saif, who is trapped inside a Zorb Ball by an evil child genius Ibis. In order to stop him from world domination, you must navigate Saif (and his friends) through the different obstacle courses. There are currently four worlds to play with a total of sixty levels to defeat. Ginger Roll embraces the short burst mobile arcade platformer formula with quick levels, simple graphics and concept with a twist of navigating using motion sensor (meaning you can tilt your screen to move Saif and his Zorb Ball). Simple, right? There is more. Each level has a countdown timer and also some maps will have various paths along with edges and no edges so that Saif can easily fall off the map to his death. In the recent update, Ginger Roll now also has on-screen joystick controls as an alternative.
3D platformers are fairly normal in console gaming however it is still a growing trend in mobile platforms. Ginger Roll takes a cute visuals, simple graphics and concept along with a newer technology immersion. As this seems to be geared towards a younger audience or even perhaps a family game, the visuals are suffice in appeal. The story itself is more of a guideline rather than something apparent as we travel from one level to the next.
The levels itself are creative and challenging. Sometimes, it takes some thought to derive the path from beginning to finish in the allotted countdown timer. There is a cue when there are only ten seconds left, which is a nice mechanic. The levels are also introduced in a roundabout overview to see in entirety before zeroing back into where we commence the level. The levels itself are filled with items to collect and various types of obstacles, however, perhaps these pose less of a nuisance than borders or lack thereof, which requires dexterity of mastering the controls to not let Saif fall to his death.
The controls are the component here that needs more polish. We tried both the screen tilt/motion sensor experience and the on-screen joystick controls (as shown in our gameplay above). The screen tilt seems to lack responsively and dexterity whereas the on-screen joystick controls seems to have much better sensitivity but at times a little too much, making it also difficult to control. There are good frustrations in gaming which result from our own lack of mastering the game. However, Ginger Roll makes us feel defeated because the controls make it hard to master these challenges and improve. For a game that focuses on its screen tilt functionalities, unfortunately, we do prefer the on-screen joystick controls as the increased responsiveness makes it easier to maneuver through the course.
As a mobile 3D platformer, Ginger Roll nails a few key aspects. These are timed short levels which fit perfectly with momentarily picking up and playing a level on the go without having to commit too much time. It is cute and simple to learn plus it has a nice color scheme and world to maneuver through these various levels. There is a challenging component to the level designs and there are many levels over various world settings. However, Ginger Roll still has space to improve, particularly in the game controls. A polish with both the screen tilt responsiveness or a more smooth on-screen joystick controls could make the gaming experience much more engaging.
Score: 3.5/5
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