We haven’t done a Reader Review in a while, and we certainly haven’t done a PlayStation Move reader review, so it seemed like a good time to kill two birds with one stone with Ben Carey’s review of Tumbler on the PSN.
We’ve enjoyed what we’ve played of Move so far; it feels precise, tactile and responsive – but we have noticed a severe lack of games we really care about playing. Maybe Tumble is worth a bash?
Take it away Ben.
Tumble (PSN)
I have been readily anticipating the release of the Playstation Move for quite a while, mostly because it means that I will finally be able to wave around my motion controller and pretend it’s a lightsaber without having to buy a Wii. That said, I was fairly sceptical about the list of games – to be honest most of them looked totally lame. However, after I got the Move I downloaded the demo (and then later purchased the full version) of Tumble.
Tumble is like a souped-up version of Jenga, but instead of having to use both of your hands like a sucker, you can now just use one and, of course, the Playstation Move.
Loved
Move functionality: Tumble really shows off the capabilities of the Move. The game maps the movements of the Move controller to a virtual controller exactly, which provides many minutes of mindless entertainment rotating the controller and watching the virtual one do the same. But it also means that control over the blocks is extremely precise, and trust me, you need precision later on in the game when you are building towers like ten meters high, balancing spherical objects on the tips of triangles. The fact that you can reach into the screen is also super cool.
Varying types of gameplay: In single player mode there are four different types of gameplay: build high; use them all; destruction; and light puzzles. Build high challenges are fairly self explanatory, you have to use all the blocks in your repertoire to build the highest tower you can. Use them all challenges consist of chucking as many blocks on the one platform as you can (trickier than it sounds). Destruction challenges are the most fun, your objective is to strategically place three limpet mines in order to blast a tower of blocks as far from the centre as possible. Light puzzles are also cool; you have to place reflective blocks in order to help a beam of light reach its target.
Multiplayer: The multiplayer is super fun. Basically, you take it in turns to build a tower; each player gets three blocks which they have to use each turn and the one who causes the tower to fall loses. It’s rather simple, but it gets very tense when the tower is a couple of meters high and starts swaying and you have to find somewhere to place your three blocks!
Hated
Voice over: The only thing I really disliked about this game was the voice over. A middle-aged, slightly British woman who provides GPS-like instructions and information dumps. Granted, you can skip the instructions, but you still have to hear the level introduction every time (this becomes especially annoying should you chose to restart the level). The thing I don’t understand is that there is no option to turn it off, so hopefully they will release a patch at a later date to switch it off.
All in all, Tumble is a well priced, fun and affordable introduction into the world of Playstation Move.
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