Spin had a girlfriend, but he fell down a hole! Well? What else do you need to know? He needs your help! Spin Spin: Chapter 1 and Spin Spin: Chapter 2 are a pair of puzzle platformers by Chris Hughes that take the simple ideas of world-spinning and spike-avoiding, strips them down to their minimalist essence, and the result is truly something special. Move Spin left and right with the [A] and [D] keys. Spin can't jump, but Spin can spin! In particular, the [right] key will spin the world ninety degrees clockwise, and [left] will spin it counter-clockwise. Spin can spin while either on solid ground, or after stepping out into a void, but he'll need to land before he can do it again: if Spin is ready for spin, he'll have a green tinge to his eyes, but red eyes means he's gotten a little dizzy. Spin is a victim of gravity, so make sure to time your spins and movements to avoid the spikes and other obstacles. Walk into checkpoints to activate them, so to regenerate there after an unfortunate Spin-spike collision. Chapter 2 follows directly from Chapter 1, and adds moving boxes (companion cubes?) and mid-air extra-spin power-ups.
The two chapters of Spin Spin are marvels of clever level design, and though the presentation is a little no-frill, they're the kind of games that push you from checkpoint to checkpoint with a sense of "I know I can get it this time." Admittedly, the controls take a bit of practice to get used to, but within minutes you'll be pulling off all the rotating airborne maneuvers you could ever hope for. Overall, Spin Spin's gameplay no doubt owes a debt to And Yet It Moves, and probably a smidge to VVVVVV as well. Make no mistake though: by limiting the number of rotations the player is allowed Hughes definitely puts his own, uh, spin on the concept. Hopefully things will come full circle in the announced chapter 3, and soon!
I liked both games, some fun puzzles and the controls weren't horribly difficult.
Nice, quick games. Fun little break diversions.
Nice games, but since I'm not very good at puzzles, I got lost and had to google a video playtrough on youtube... And now I'm imagining everything turning upside down, what a trip!
Aside the dangling modifier in the opening sentence of the first game (male girlfriend ;)), these games are really good. Perfectly short and perfectly difficult for an after-lunch brain.
It is very smooth. Too smooth.
I kept expecting the game to react a split-second after my fingers, as most games do. But this one reacted instantaneously. Well done.
However, My skills are lacking. I am simply unable to react quickly enough to get on that tiny little ledge on the spiky staircase. I managed to get to the next screen once, but I went too far and landed on the next set of spikes. Back to checkpoint. I probably landed on the spikes two hundred times (I abhor exaggerations. two hundred is close to an accurate count. Not precise, but accurate)
Good game. I will try the second chapter now.
~Dartania Thorne
Wow. This is high difficulty, but unlike most such games, held my interest to the end of part 1. I'm about to try part 2.
The review needs to be updated, it is the arrow keys that are used to spin the world. At first I thought only the world could be spinned, and Spin couldn't be moved, causing much frustration.
Themepark:
Fixed! Sorry about that. The game must have left me a little dizzy. :-)
Wow awesome game!
I'm stuck at the first floating cube in chaper 2... Has anyone figured that one out yet?
Update