iPhone App Video Review: Gorilla Gondola

The title is fairly straightforward here. The game is about a massive silverback gorilla riding on one of those ski-mountain gondolas. Whoever built this gondola had a sick sense of humor, since he laid the line out in areas full of dangerous obstacles, from stalactites and mountains to mines and lasers. Your job as the gorilla is to jump up and stomp down on the gondola to keep it moving out of harm’s way. You do this by swiping in each relative direction, and you can move slightly to the left and right by tilting your device. While you’re avoiding hazards you’ll also collect power-ups, go through score gates, and collect thousands of precious delicious bananas; enough to rival Donkey Kong‘s massive stash.

The controls take some getting used to and there’s real skill involved with timing your jumps and stomps at the right time to get the desired result. It’s surprisingly nuanced like that. Power-ups include invincibility, making you heavier or lighter, etc. There are several objects in the environment that you can turn on and off, such as the fans that push you along or the dangerous lasers, though the latter will come back on after three seconds or so. You’ll also have to deal with some very familiar looking “agitated birds” as enemies that need a good stomping. Each level introduces new mechanics to go along with the extremely varied settings and aesthetics, and each one might take a couple tries as you learn the ins and outs of each new mechanic.

You’ll travel all throughout the world in this title, from mountains, caves, deserts, and oceans to cities and even outer space! The music is of the electronic variety, and it always sets the right tone. The reactions of the extremely deep voiced gorilla are also entertaining. There are plenty of achievements to nab and GameCenter leaderboards to climb. According to the leaderboards I’m fairly good at this game, though I didn’t feel like it. This iOS Universal title can be yours for two dollars. If it looks interesting to you or if the concept sounds amusing, you’ll probably have a good time with it. I can’t wait to see what else this studio comes up with!

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