Give It Up! Bouncy

Genre: Platformer

Players: 1

.

Review:

Give It Up! Is a series of games released on mobile devices that share a similar aesthetic and characters – namely, the bouncy black blobs that form the games’ protagonists. One of these games, Give It Up! Bouncy, is a family-friendly Platformer first released to mobile devices in 2019 and ported to Nintendo Switch in 2021. As the name implies, it has you playing a very bouncy blob, one who cannot stop bouncing.

The presentation here is simple, but good, with players controlling an 2D animated black blob against a grey backdrop, with platforms, hazards, and pickups highlighted in various colors that make them stand out against the rest of the monochrome game. This use of color throughout the game really helps objects to pop, giving the game an appealing look. These visuals are paired with a fantastic soundtrack that has high-pitched voices singing nonsensical gibberish, which really gives this game a unique personality… and it’s just a shame when this personality is briefly shattered by the “level complete” fanfare, which is a brief little generic public domain snippet I’ve heard used in other games.

As for the gameplay, you’ll be trying to make your way through a series of levels that feel somewhat like obstacle courses. There’s not really a sense that you’re moving through places with their own personality so much as challenges created to give you a new task to accomplish. Still, at least as that goes, what’s here is pretty good – there’s a good variety of different elements to each stage, and the game does a good job mixing them up to keep things interesting. Likewise, the controls seem pretty good, albeit limited – you’ll only be moving left and right (as previously mentioned, you’ll constantly be bouncing, so no jump). The game also does provide you with consumable power-ups to expand your view, create a platform in a place of your choosing, or briefly give your blob invulnerability to stage hazards, which are a nice addition that players who are struggling may opt to reach for on occasion.

Overall, I like Give It Up! Bouncy. It’s a fun take on the genre, it’s fairly accessible, there’s a good amount of variety, and it has a decent presentation. I’d say that this game feels a bit light for a $10 game, but if you can catch it on a good sale, it may be worth your while.

tl;dr – Give It Up! Bouncy is a family-friendly Platformer where you play as a black blob that is constantly bouncing, with levels that are set up like obstacle courses. The gameplay here is good and varied while still being very accessible, and the presentation is pretty good too. The price tag seems a bit high for what’s on offer here, but overall this is a solid Platformer worth a try if you can catch it on a good sale.

Grade: C+

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