SpinDizzy Worlds

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Here's a wacky lil' title for ya.

Spindizzy worlds is an odd game about a Spinning Top Robot, named Gerald- That is, the "Geographic Environmental Reconnaissance and Landmapping Device". Gerald must explore alien planets before they are destroyed forever, navigating harsh and strange environments, collecting things and finding fuel as it goes. The game is an isometric puzzler, though it also involves a truck-load of platforming. Some levels will see you carefully traveling over narrow bridges, and using ramps to jump from platform to platform. A few will have you racing around set courses, trying to reach the goal before you run out of time. Others will see you solving puzzles, or tackling isometric illusions, trying to figure out which paths are real. Throughout each level, you'll have to find switches to open paths up, and find collectables to fuel you up. Some will also let you pass only when you've collected enough jewels.

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The game's a well balanced joy to play. The controls can seem floaty at first, but it shouldn't take long to get the hang of 'em. The worlds are varied and well designed, and although some appear rather flat, the majority of the levels are lively, colourful and quirky. The isometric view also allows the developers to play around with the level design, to make illusions in some levels, whereby a platform which appears to be infront of you will end up, instead, being a higher platform in the foreground, and if you try to pass over it, you'll find yourself hurtling through space. That'll teach ya to keep on your toes! The L and R buttons will rotate the view, giving you a better perspective of what's going on around you, and in some situations this is a very useful feature.
After each level, you'll be taken to a Bonus stage. In this area, you'll be racing against the clock to collect all the Jewels. As fun as these stages can be, they seem to offer little reward. On top of this, each bonus level, and a few other timed levels throughout the game, have no music- Instead, you're left racing around the level listening to a dull silence, broken only by the irritating ticking of the timer.
Once you've finished the bonus level, you'll be taken to the level select screen, where you can watch a little animaton of the planet you just visited exploding, receive your password, and choose your next level. The screen shows the entire solar system, allowing you to rotate it until the level you want to play is highlighted. There are about three layers of planets overall. To reach the inner layers of the solar system, you must complete the planets from the previous layer. The presentation and execution of this screen alone is pretty impressive. The only real down side is that it makes revisiting past levels quite difficult.

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As with many Snes games, SpinDizzy Worlds uses passwords to store data. After every world you explore, you'll be given a password, which you can input to continue your game. This game uses fairly short 8 letter long passwords, so copying it down and inputting it later shouldn't prove a large problem.

Spindizzy Worlds is an impressive little game, with some very appealing level designs you'll find yourself wanting to replay from time to time. The controls and gameplay take a little time to get used to, but the Easydizzy Solarsystem provides you with a few easy levels, to get your barings. There's been a lot of thought put into this game. Would definetely recommend.