I’m all the time looking out for stable cellular video games. They appear to be getting higher by the month, and what’s extra, they’re a terrific distraction at any time when I really feel the itch to go on social media. In my search, I’ve gravitated towards free-to-play video games like Cookie Run: Kingdom and Brawl Stars — video games that don’t soak the expertise in advertisements at each nook. And this week, I discovered my new favourite cellular recreation within the unlikeliest of locations: Netflix.
Poinpy, the brand new recreation from Downwell creator Ojiro Fumoto, was introduced through the Netflix occasion throughout Summer time Sport Fest final week. To get the sport, all you want is an energetic Netflix subscription. From there, that you must get the cellular app, log in, and search “Poinpy,” and it’ll take you to the obtain. Belief me: It’s effectively price it.
The favored roguelike shooter Downwell took us deeper and deeper down an countless gap. Poinpy, however, is an higher in each sense of the time period. For one, you’ll actually be springing endlessly upward. Moreover, the sport will buoy your spirits with its charming 2D artwork model and effervescent soundtrack from Calum Bowen (Pikuniku and Nintendo’s Snipperclips).
The premise is straightforward and paying homage to the 2010s period of app gaming: Pull backward to spring Poinpy upward. As you bounce and wall kick your means up a column stuffed with platforms and enemies, you’ll want to gather the best constellation of fruit to create a scrumptious and nutritious fruit smoothie for the large monster making an attempt to eat you on the backside.
Don’t thoughts its cutesy exterior — the sport is delirious and clean as hell. You get a restricted variety of jumps that reset when you land and feed the fruit to the monster. Every time you bounce, nonetheless, you get a slow-motion scene the place you possibly can change the route of your character. There’s additionally a “slam” mechanic the place you possibly can careen onto the tops of enemies and pots to get a small increase again into the air, regenerating a bounce within the course of.
The sport strikes breathtakingly quick — you possibly can smash a run inside a matter of moments for those who mess up two smoothies or get hit by two enemies. And since I’m not, like, a gaming god, my runs are likely to final a couple of minutes. If, like me, you’re dangerous at these sorts of video games, there’s a puzzle mode that reveals among the distinctive mechanics of every zone. Taken collectively, all of the little mechanics permit you to chain collectively scrumptious combos which might be sufficient to place Neo’s slow-motion antics to disgrace.
Regardless of being free (effectively, free with a Netflix subscription, that’s) Poinpy is as compelling as among the finest paid cellular video games on the market. If you happen to don’t have an Apple Arcade subscription, otherwise you’re in search of that subsequent recreation to cross the time that you simply’d in any other case be losing on social media, Poinpy is an absolute blast.
