Vertical Adventure (by Rikudo Games) is a very simple game to both play and describe. Played on a mostly black 2D stage made up of red and white elements you will either need to avoid or collect.
The game takes a fairly standard avoider game mechanic we should all be very much accustomed to thanks to a “little known game” called Color Switch and makes it even simpler, thanks to some clever colour and design choices. If you enjoy playing games that look and feel exceedingly simple, Vertical Adventure is probably going to seem like love at first sight.
The gameplay in Vertical Adventure consists of all the normal stuff you could expect to see in a 2D avoider game that kind of resembles Color Switch. Played by tapping on the screen of your device in order to jump your ball up the screen of your device, you can change the angle at which your ball jumps up by tapping closer to the left or right edges of your screen, skewing your jump in those directions the closer you tap the edge of your screen.
This highly intuitive control scheme makes avoiding obstacles fairly easy, although there does seem to be an element of luck involved once you get up to some of the higher levels where things start moving faster… 😱
One more small yet ingenious thing we really like about this game is how it displays whether you are moving fast enough to make it to the top with full marks.
Instead of using a 3-star system to show how well (or not) you did on a given level, Vertical Adventure awards players with a single crown if they manage to make it to the goal within a given amount of time. This time is measured by two small indicators that race up the sides of your screen toward the goal allowing you to easily visualise whether you will make it in time based on whether or not you are in front of or behind these two dots.
With many, many levels for you to play through, a few different character skins for you to unlock, and not too many ads, this is a game we can highly recommend to anyone who values simplicity even in their gaming life.
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Find it on App Store / Google Play