I have never in all my life been told that the floor is jelly. I’ve been told things about floors before and I’ve been told things about jelly before, but never have the two been combined in my experience. I have gathered from my time with The Floor is Jelly that it would make day-to-day life quite turbulent and, to use a technical term, wiggly.
The Floor is Jelly is a platformer with a unique twist. Not a special ability like many other platformers of recent years, but a special environment that you may have guessed – the floor is made entirely of jelly. It’s not just the floor that is jelly, it’s the walls and the ceilings too, and it’s the bounciest type of jelly in plenty of different colours. As you might expect, the bouncy nature of the jelly is harnessed to jump higher and further to reach your goal – which is often a window (an actual, literal window, not just an opportunity) to progress to another area.
Before we go ahead I should mention that this is a very pretty game. Its vector graphics give it a simple and clean aesthetic but it is so packed with colour that its various environments come to life. My favourite so far are the levels that are backed by a full moon and stars in a deep blue sky as you wildly bounce around on lighter blue platforms. It keeps showing new environments that are all just beautiful and ensure you never get sick of watching it in motion.
As you might expect, it’s not just super-happy bounce-time, there are obstacles and endless drops to avoid and puzzles for you to solve as you make your way through the levels. The game doesn’t tell you anything, it assumes you can figure things out and drops you onto a gloriously springy floor and you find your way around. You spot a suspicious window and jump into it and you’re taken to another place. Later, other mechanics are introduced, such as the black, spikey-looking jelly, that is obviously something you don’t want to touch.
It is nice to not be explicitly told what you need to do, but for it to be effective the goals do need to be conveyed via the game’s design and The Floor is Jelly does this well. It does also highlight certain exits (as some levels have more than one and you will revisit them later) so you know where you are going in the maze-like levels. For all its mechanics, it really all comes down to the jelly and it is very well made. It jiggles and bounces when you jump off it, onto it, and into it and it is pleasing just to watch it bounce around for some reason.
My favourite (very early) puzzle was one that was a floor and a ceiling with a very large block of black, spiky jelly splitting the room in half vertically. The solution was to bounce so that you can use the ripples in the floor to get under the obstacle. That is the solution I found, anyway, as I’ve noticed that many levels have multiple ways of getting through them so it’s entirely likely that someone else would complete any given level differently, or collect things in a different order. It is as much an exploration game as it is a puzzle-platformer and it is satisfying every time you decipher a puzzle or find the next collectible.
It is a bright, colourful, and beautiful trip through puzzles and various shades of jelly. Its jelly floors are pretty unique and it is an inexplicable joy to watch things wiggle around. This and its inventive mechanics make The Floor is Jelly an easy recommendation and one that I really enjoyed.
The Floor is Jelly is out now for PC and Mac, from its official website.
bunimomike
Count me in. I’ll take a look at this today if I can help it.
Ah… What platform? I’m on the iPhone at the moment so get the cutdown version of the TSA site. However, TSA really needs to sort out a spec panel. Even on mobiles. Pop it under the comments section, maybe.
f4rgo
Can’t agree more with the “what platform” comment, so many reviews lately leave me reaching for the Acme(tm) TSA Mind Reader 2000 helmet.
Gareth Chadwick
Oops. It’s PC :-)
bunimomike
Thanks, fella. My next comment most certainly isn’t aimed at you but…
…can all of the writers on TSA endeavour to fill out the spec area or mention it in the article. It’s supremely frustrating to read an entire article, get your hopes built up and then find out you have no bloody idea as to what platform a title is coming out for.
Please. Pretty please. Pretty effing large please! :-)
Gareth Chadwick
I will certainly endeavour to do so in future.
bunimomike
*tips hat graciously* :-)
Kennykazey
Or just give it a mention in the opening paragraph at least.
simplebob
This sounds very much like LocoRoco in reverse. Wonder if it will end up on Vita?
double-o-dave
“This sounds very much like LocoRoco in reverse.”
OcorOcol?
bunimomike
This sounds very much like the name of Enya’s new album. Probably. :P
double-o-dave
Sounds about right. Oddly enough I had my iPhone on shuffle whilst walking to work this morning and was greeted by Caribbean Blue. I have no idea how that got in my collection but it was strangely relaxing. I almost stripped naked and rolled around the pavement thinking of daisy’s and unicycling dwarfs.
bunimomike
I. Am. Aroused.