Rolando Review (iPhone)

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Rolando Review (iPhone)

Mon, Dec 22, 2008

It was a bittersweet moment for me when I began to review Rolando, the latest game from ngmoco for the Apple iPhone. On the one hand, undertaking GameCyte's very first iPhone review meant that I was eating my words from last summer, when I suggested that iPhone games wouldn't establish themselves as a serious handheld gaming contender. On the other hand, it gave me the opportunity to learn, firsthand, just what kind of potential the iPhone has to deliver a solid and enjoyable game experience. Rolando is an imaginative, well-executed, and undeniably fun title, perfectly suited to the tilt-and-touch iPhone interface.

Six months ago, Mr. Hollister and I had a friendly argument about whether the iPhone was going to be a serious gaming platform -- the kind that might pose some serious competition to the established handheld systems. At the time, I expressed the opinion that, while we would certainly see a number of excellent games, with the iPhone's unique control mechanics being put to creative use by developers, the device would forever be a phone first, with its games as an afterthought. So, one can imagine that as the App Store's games have grown too numerous to count, and games have come to occupy 7 of the top 10 paid downloads, and top developers like John Carmack and Hideo Kojima have jumped on board, I've started to feel pretty stupid.

Thankfully, the other half of my argument still stands: I asserted that, regardless of the market that iPhone games would capture, that we would undoubtedly see a few excellent creations which used the iPhone's creative interface in equally creative ways. Rolando is one such game; it's a piece of software that owners can easily use to demonstrate the merits of their awesome new gadget to non-users. However, the game also manages to outlast the "tech demo" novelty phase -- long after you're finished showing off the cool interface to your friends, Rolando will still remain fun to play for its own sake.

Rolando is a game which starts out on the familiar side. Rolandoland, a colorful and friendly place full of hovering platforms and rolling hills, is populated by the Rolandos, a collection of circular creatures who must roll and bounce their way past obstacles and nasty creatures, in order to reach the end of each level. This is primarily accomplished by tilting the iPhone left and right, sending the Rolandos rolling along in the intended direction. If this sounds fairly reminiscent of LocoRoco, the similarities don't end there: Rolando's art style and visual presentation are also quite evocative of the quirky, surreal PSP title, giving one an initial impression that Rolando is a derivative title, if not downright ripped-off.

Once you've gotten past the initial sense of deja vu, however, Rolando is very much its own game, and accomplishes a number of impressive innovations in the "rolling platformer" genre. For starters, the iPhone interface lends a level of control to Rolando that LocoRoco could never accomplish; instead of simply pressing a button to tilt and roll the characters, the surprisingly sensitive iPhone tilt/motion sensors give tight and precise movement control to the Rolandos, allowing players to range from slow and careful creeping, to reckless barreling across the colorful 2D landscapes. To jump, the player must swipe a finger upwards across the screen. From there, though, Rolando integrates quite an assortment of other control features, all of which are easily learned and very intuitive -- yet still extremely fun to execute.

To select which Rolandos to move, the player can simply poke the character of their choice, or they can drag a box across several at once for simultaneous control. Placing two fingers on the screen allows the camera to be dragged around. A handful of in-game obstacles and mechanisms can only be operated by the player's touch, allowing one to manually raise or lower elevators, swing open gates, and even trace bridges into existence with a sweep of the fingertip. By the end of each level, you'll want to clean your iPhone screen, which will be liberally covered in fingerprints and smudges from a full assortment of satisfyingly tactile maneuvers. Rolando is a great example of the kind of hands-on gameplay made possible by the iPhone's touch screen, rivaling a number of creatively controlled games for the Nintendo DS.

While I was certainly impressed by Rolando's clever controls and cute aesthetics, what really made me sit up and take notice was the realization that these mechanical innovations weren't just for show. About a quarter of the way through Rolando's 36 levels, it dawned on me that the game's difficulty level had started to appreciably increase, and a few of the puzzles were actually challenging me, forcing me to take a moment to think before I started rolling. Somewhere along the lines, Rolando had stopped showing off its cool controls, and had gotten down to business, maturing into a genuinely tricky platformer.

Over the course of one's journey through Rolandoland, the game will continue to mix things up, tossing new challenges at the player on a regular basis. Soon, it's not enough to simply roll your Rolandos to safety: You'll have to save the Royal Rolandos, a collection of inept aristocrats who are either incapable of rolling on their own (forcing the player to bump and shove them about with other Rolandos) or incapable of not rolling constantly (requiring the player to carefully block them from dangerous hazards). The player will also meet the Royal Spikey Commandos, a variety of Rolandos which can stick to most surfaces, allowing them to roll along walls and ceilings. There are even a handful of levels where simple left-and-right tilting isn't enough; navigating the mazelike landscape can only be done by actually turning the iPhone all the way around and back again. I was actually worried during the last couple of these levels -- not for the fate of the Rolandos, but because beating the levels required so much flipping and spinning and twisting that I felt sure I was going to drop and break the device.

Towards the end of the game, Rolando had gone from simple and cheerful to downright hard. The game's quick, easy initial levels were now 6-7 minute missions, requiring precision jumps, careful timing, and plenty of advance planning to succeed. The game never felt cheap, though, and my failures were never forced -- passing levels was simply a matter of timing, patience, and a little forethought, rather than endless trial and error. Rolando is challenging without being frustrating; thanks to some excellent level design on ngmoco's part, it's the kind of platformer that would actually be fun with a traditional controller. Being able to play the game with the unique iPhone controls is just gravy.

Simply playing through Rolando's 36 levels is roughly a 6-8 hour journey, a perfectly respectable amount of gameplay for a title which costs as much as the typical XBLA offering. From there, though, the game challenges you to rack up a handful of achievements by beating its levels quickly and/or flawlessly: Each level contains three medals which can be won for finishing within a time limit, without losing any Rolandos, or after nabbing all of the collectibles. The iPhone doesn't yet maintain any kind of persistent gamer profile, so you won't be sharing or comparing these achievements with anyone else, but they're still a nice way to track your personal progress and strive for completion.

Rolando is a good, fun game, that much is for certain. It may not shatter any molds, nor is it the kind of title that will incontrovertibly elevate our favorite pastime to an art form, but it's a solid experience from start to finish. Put it together with the iPhone, though, and you've got an exceptional game which perfectly highlights the strengths of the platform, from its wonderfully executed tilt-and-touch controls, to its mobile-friendly "save anytime" feature, to its ability to integrate your iTunes library as the in-game soundtrack.

Time will tell if I was right or wrong about gamers picking up an iPhone for specific use as a dedicated gaming platform. For those who have already taken the plunge, however, the argument hardly matters, and you should absolutely buy Rolando.