Review

Gameplay 75%

Hopstacle is a simple 2D endless runner where timing is everything, and your goal is to go through as many floors as possible. Your white square is always advancing at the same speed, and you can only tap on the screen to make it jump to avoid obstacles.   If you crash into something, you’ll immediately restart from the beginning of the floor where you lost. The number of floors is infinite, and it’s all about setting a record before losing the 25 lives you’re given, which won’t last long if you aren’t careful. At first, you’ll encounter small squares or triangles sticking out from the ground that are fairly easy to jump, with a lot of space between each other. Later, you’ll find larger obstacles blocking your way, some changing size, others moving around left to right, others suddenly comming up from below, and a combination of everything. Sometimes you’ll be moving through a floor that apparently doesn’t have anything, and all of a sudden a hude square will pop out from the ground like a whale jumping in the ocean. As you advance, obstacles will be bigger and closer together, making it harder to time your jumps just right. Also, you’ll find squares hovering in the air close to a cube in your way , so you’ll have to calculate when to hop over the obstacle at the right time so you don’t end up crashing in the mid-air figure; and most of the time, you also have to jump again to avoid another obstacle while the hovering figure is still above you, but since you hop diagonally, you’ll survive (barely).

Graphics 54%

Hopstacle features simple 2D geometric elements over a black background, and the animation is pretty simple, just movement to the sides and some rotating here and there.   You won’t see anything really eye catchy here, the fanciest effect is when you crash and the white squares breaks into lots of tiny cubes that bounce all over, but you can’t really pay much attention to it since a new square respawns immediately and you can to jump fast to avoud the obstacle you crashed into. Given the style of gameplay, the graphics are just appropiate, but there could’ve been some additions to the visuals to make them better, like the white square leaving a transparent trail or something, which makes many similar games a little more lively. As it is now, it just looks plain, and many games of the genre are better overall.

Production Quality 63%

Hopstacle doesn’t really innovate the genre, and it actually lacks many features that make the most popular titles of this kind more likeable. It could’ve had coins or items to collect, a slow-mo power up, invincibility or something to spice things up a little bit, not just jumping around.   Similar games where you control a cube, have different designs to unlock, backgrounds that change, many songs to play and overall, variety. The core gameplay doesn’t change much in this kind of titles, but there are elements to keep the player interest, and here, you just have to beat your record, and that won’t keep the attention of the average user for long.

Value for your Money 93%

Hopstacle is free on Google Play and the Apple App Store. You will see some advertising from time to time, and that’s to be expected. If you lose quickly, it can get annoying to see a video ad everytime you lose all lives. There’s a premium version with no ads you can buy, so consider it if you really enjoy this game.

Launch Video

Summary

Hopstacle is simple Retro Arcade fun, easy to play but hard to master, that works al right for your average casual game. It may keep your interest for a couple of plays, and the more interested player may get to Floor 100 before stop playing. This game just doesn’t offer anything above average, and the most popular games of its genre offer much more to keep the user going at it one more time. It’s OK to try for a few minutes if you’re looking for a platformer challenge, but it doesn’t really stand out among the sea of 2D runners available for mobile devices. Pros

• Simple controls, challenging gameplay
• The music is cool

Cons

• Graphics are way too minimalistic
• The game doesn’t have much besides the core gameplay

Game Help Guru Rating 62%