Fluidity: Spin Cycle

Genre: Platformer / Misc.

Players: 1

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Review:

Fluidity: Spin Cycle, released on Nintendo 3DS in 2012, is a Platformer of sorts where players take the role of an anthropomorphized puddle of water trying to rescue trapped spirits from a malevolent magical goo while inside a storybook come to life. This game is the sequel to the 2010 WiiWare game Fluidity. As with that game, players control your character in this game through motion control – in this case, using the Nintendo 3DS’s built-in motion sensor.

This leads to probably my biggest issue with this game. Unlike the Wii remote, a Nintendo 3DS system is odd-shaped and awkward to move around, especially when you encounter levels that require you to rotate the remote 360 degrees. While the Nintendo 2DS’s single-piece construction may make this a bit easier, most 3DS systems with their clamshell design will feel extremely awkward trying to do this, and it’s pretty much guaranteed that you’ll be hitting buttons when you don’t mean to, or have difficulty hitting a button when you do need to. I feel like this game would have worked better on any modern Nintendo platform – Wii U, Switch, even a smartphone take on this formula would have been preferable.

For what it’s worth, this game does feature some good level design and clever puzzle design, with some fun mechanics the game adds into the mix later to keep things interesting. In many ways this game feels similar to the Sony franchise Loco Roco, which was a good deal more endearing than this game, but not nearly as mechanically inventive. Overall, if I was just looking at the core gameplay itself, this game would play wonderfully… but once I have to take controls into account, all that goes out the window.

I suppose I should mention the presentation, which uses colorful 2D visuals, well-animated character with endearing character designs, nice water effects (naturally), and has a nice, relaxed soundtrack. It’s good, and very polished. If you can tolerate this game’s control issues, you’ll likely appreciate all of this.

However, in the end, for me, all talk about Fluidity: Spin Cycle comes back to this game’s controls. I see so much potential in this game, but the frustrating controls just muck things up. If you have the patience to deal with this game’s motion-controlled hijinks, it may be worth playing, but for most I’d argue to skip it.

tl;dr – Fluidity: Spin Cycle is a Platformer where players use the Nintendo 3DS’s motion controls to tilt around the screen to control a puddle of water. There’s some good level design and puzzle design here, but ultimately it’s all kinda’ ruined by the game’s awkward control scheme, which just does not seem like a good fit for the Nintendo 3DS. If you can tolerate the motion-controlled absurdity this game thrusts at you, you may enjoy it. But most are better off skipping it.

Grade: C

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