[quote]Follow my Curator page, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41363546-Fruit-N-Doggie-Reviews/]Fruit N Doggie Reviews,[/url] so you can be updated whenever I post a new review.[/quote]
[h1]Overall Rating - Painfully Bad ★☆☆☆☆[/h1]
[h1]First Impressions[/h1]
Before even considering what kind of game this might be, every time I see the title Gelu (GL), the word glue comes to mind. I think the two are just a little too close to each other for me to be at fault for that mix-up. Anyways, it didn't take long to realize this was a short puzzle platforming game, that I wound up finishing faster than expected. It'd be unlikely to take most people even an hour to beat it.
[h1]Gameplay[/h1]
Each level has a spawning point, crowbar, and exit door. You'll fall from the spawning point each time you freeze a clone in place, which can be done mid-jump. The next clone gets made instantly, so if you're still holding left as part of a jump, you'll fall from the start location going in that direction. Before exiting you have to grab the crowbar, but otherwise can use as few clones as needed, although you're limited to whatever number is displayed on the spawn point. Anytime you die, it immediately restarts the entire stage, so placing your clones the right distance from spikes is important.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3460969664
[h1]Controls[/h1]
I was pretty miffed when I wasn't able to play GL with my controller, as it was completely unresponsive. Thankfully, the controls are straightforward and simple enough, without overly fussy platforming, that I could make my way through the levels. There's a few issues worth pointing out though. You can create an ice clone right next to the spawning location, but you'll likely have to mash the button for it to be made at a worthwhile spot. Also worth noting, you don't get that much height from a jump, but due to the slow falling speed, can make good horizontal distance.
[h1]Story[/h1]
It's the kind of game where I might have expected to see some kind of story, explaining what's going on with the crowbar and clones, but even the store page doesn't mention anything about the background. Considering you don't need the crowbar to make or break the frozen clones, I fail to see why you're bothering to get it at all. Maybe I shouldn't ask why he wants it.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3460969316
[h1]Visuals[/h1]
From my perspective, instead of looking cute, the main character has an expression that looks perpetually annoyed, as if he's always dealing with idiots. Despite his yellow color, he's clearly a Squidward. With his environment, he looks to be in a generic lab setting, with spikes that are deceptively short with how far their hit box reaches. Due to the wall being made of grid-like tiles, it gives a reference point for where to create your clones. Although you might still have made a mistake trying to placeone, by comparing it to the background, you know about how much of an adjustment you'll need to make in the following attempt, “Looks like I was about half a block too high. Next time, I'll press the button a bit later.” Something that's kind of funny is that because of a single level that had an arrow launching you upwards, there's always part of an arrow pointing downward visible on every other one.
[h1]Sound Design[/h1]
Since the levels didn't have smaller categories or themes to them, it makes sense why there's only one song that plays throughout the entire game. The background and surroundings always look the same. It's a chip tune track, and it has a few different sound effects making up the song. At first I thought it was just going to repeat the same two noises indefinitely, but it started adding more notes over time. Thankfully it doesn't take long to finish GL, but the song might still get grating, because parts of it are highly repetitive and cycles on itself quickly.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3460968709
[h1]Pros[/h1]
🌟 Although sloppy in design, none of the stages seemed to have an overly obnoxious or difficult layout.
🌟 It's pretty easy and quick to earn all of the achievements.
[h1]Cons[/h1]
❌ I don't think the maximum jump height is 100% consistent. When attempting the same jump from one block to the next, sometimes I'd miss jumping onto it, while other times I'd barely clear it.
❌ The level design is pretty poor.
[h1]Tips[/h1]
🔍 Most of the time when jumping, I'd move straight up at first due to obstacles, and then focus on getting my distance and height at the right spot.
🔍 The platforms that disappear look different from the permanent ones.
[h1]Final Thoughts[/h1]
Having never made a game before, something I can really appreciate about designing a platformer is how simple it looks, but how important it is to set your paths properly. When you can't jump through a platform because it's treated like a solid object, that makes the placement even more meaningful. Generally, even if I'm not that fond of an indie platformer, I can at least appreciate the thoughtfulness from how they laid everything out. In this case though, I was sometimes confused by what the developer was going for, because the answer seemed much easier and more straightforward than what they may have thought of. It's unfortunate, but I found their layouts to be confusing and sloppy in many cases, exacerbated by the fact there's a ceiling you have to account for. Asking $5 for GL is quite the stretch, although when it's on sale, you can get it for a much more reasonable price of half a buck. Since it's not that graceful or fun a platformer though, I wouldn't suggest doing so.
[table]
[tr]
[th]PC Specs[/th]
[th]Performance[/th]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]Ryzen 2700
RTX 2070
16GB RAM
ADATA SSD
1920x1080
[/td]
[td]The game ran without incident on default settings.
💖 - GL is healthy
[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]
