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Most platformers are content with assigning players a handful of 'powers', be it through
tokens they earn that give them temporary special abilities or by using button combinations
to add a level of skill to the gameplay. SpinTrip takes a slightly different approach, breaking
down the gameplay in to moving left/right and jumping while only being able to activate
one power at a time; the catch is, you need to 'find' the power in question first.
It's an intriguing idea and where most game will limit the ammunition for your weaponry
or only provide access to super-powers, SpinTrip parses out everything from being able to jump
higher to floating on water, assigning them to creatures that act as a resource for these
abilities. This allows the game to be a bit trickier with how it designs levels, restricting
access to areas until you have the ability unlocked (such as rock walls needing to be
cannon-balled down), but not entirely preventing progress as alternate routes are usually available.
Players are rewarded for exploration by gaining more points at the end of the level, determining
whether they end up with 1 or 3 stars, but there's fun to be had in taking the road less
traveled as you gain rarer abilities to perform platforming tasks that require a bit more
skill.
Overall the game has a fairly low-challenge threshold and when combined with its cutesy
designs and sounds that burble and pop like a pre-schooler's educational TV show, it's
definitely worth picking up this title if you have younger children in the household
that need entertaining.
This isn't to say that SpinTrip isn't a challenge for more hardened gamers, but there's less
compelling gameplay to keep them coming back for more.