It may seem like endless runners are a crowded genre, and in fact, you’d probably be right, but once in a while there comes along one entry that stands apart from the rest of the crowd. Whether Gear Jack: Black Hole (Free) is worthy of that title remains to be seen (and telling you now would spoil the beginning of the review), but the vibrant stylish-looking graphics drew me in almost straight away, so in fact, the outlook is already fairly positive.
A loose throwback to the ever-popular slide n’ jump platformer Gear Jack, in this new entry from Cresent Moon Games, you once again play as a cute little robotic dude who this time has managed to get himself trapped inside a series of black holes, and you’re tasked with rescuing him by world-hopping your way through an infinite time and space. Falling rocks, huge spikes, spinning saw blades, and cliffs are just some of the hazards that you’ll have to avoid en-route. Any escape is done in vain.
The controls are fairly simple and altogether self-explanatory, but require some fast reflexes on all counts. The on-screen icons control jumping, rolling and slowing your run to a walk by tapping on the “snail” icon. Hops can sometimes feel a little twitchy and out of control, making it difficult to judge where our robot guy will land, and results can therefore be hit or miss, especially at such a quickened pace. Double jumping requires some fairly adequate timing, and it can be slightly awkward at the best of times. What puzzled me most though was the snail-crawling walk, which instead feels like an unnecessary asset. It’s not something you’ll find yourself utilising much, by any means.
Because Gear Jack: Black Hole is essentially a free-to-play game, it relies on its own in-game currency in order to progress. That said, the game can be played fairly frequently without the worry of waiting for regeneration times or anything similar, and it’s largely generous, where its main currency is concerned. In each playthrough, players collect gears in order to exchange them in the Shop for various goods. These goods come in form of “poses”, and “costumes”. Though you can accumulate gears reasonably quickly, none of these items come without a rather hefty price tag, so you’ll be saving for some time before getting your mitts on the resources.
In the Shop, you can also purchase Talents using the same currency, for which each will aid you in some respect in your play-throughs. The second currency is “stars”, and whilst they can be quite useful in helping you resurrect yourself after a swift death, they’re fairly unobtainable for the most part. Nonetheless, your death is never really in vain, as the level regenerates randomly each time, which keeps things slightly appealing nonetheless.
One of the game’s better aspects is its no-nonsense attitude, which upon launch throws you straight into the action without any fuss. To keep things further interesting, various missions are introduced as you advance, earning you bonus rewards at the end of each playthrough. This can include anything from visiting a different environment more than once, sliding your way along two cables, or just simply accomplishing four double jumps in a row. There’s also the opportunity to grab an instant power-up as you’re running, which automatically grants you that specific talent for a limited time.
Gear Jack: Black Hole may be a little bit tiresome after some time, and despite a few new interesting features up its sleeve, it lacks that oomph to keep one entertained in the long run. A solid attempt at an overly exhausted genre, but nothing exceptional, despite its fun factor.
Number of #@$%'s given?
0
You commenting contradicts that answer.
I don't care.
Woah, you're so edgy brah, I wish I was as cool as you.
I don't care that you don't care. Does that make me cool too?
This thread is so meta...
I don't care. 😀😀😀
'cause everyone want's to be cool.
You just made my day!
Flappy fuckin' Bird.
But does it really? Informing others of your lack of interest doesn't actually demonstrate interest. Somewhat the opposite in fact.
Why is everyone hating in this dev and game? He made a couple good time waster games and all because everyone plagiarized his games, he gets flack. I thought it was pretty cool of him to pull the game and stand on his morals.
But, he didn't stand by his morals, because he's bringing the game back.
How didn't he stand by his morals? Read the article.
No he's right. The answer he gave is not the answer he have originally. Which said he was bothered by all of the money and fame. Looks like he really wasn't bothered after all.
All of this, from day one has been a huge publicity scheme, a great one at that. Neither of the two different reasons he gave actually meant anything. It's been a ploy all along. The guy is a master level marketer. End of story.
I'm sure he was bothered by the fame. The Asian culture react differently than other cultures. He's a young man that lived with his parents and then all of a sudden he became a millionaire. He said he's changed the game to make it less addicting, and that is what I meant by he stuck by his morals. I honestly don't understand everybody's gripe about this young man.
And the saga continues...
Maybe this means gba4ios might make a return as well, with multiplayer
...and the crowd goes mild.
Gee..this qualifies as news?? By the time it is released it will be old news and something else will be the rage. The dev had his 15 minutes and couldn't handle it. No need to glorify him more.
I wish your idea was true, but when it comes back (technically it's still there if you've downloaded it before) it's going to be on article after article on every game and tech website because it generates page views.
On a more positive note, Eli explained the benefit of all the Flappy articles, which was that people read about FB then check out other iOS and Android games, and it creates new fans and all that. So there's both sides of the coin.
Also over 9000 new FB clones will come out on launch day.
Essentially, it's only still in the limelight because it's being artificially kept there by various media sources all wanting to leech off of it. Fair enough though, that's how media works, it's just very amusing seeing something that we've all admitted doesn't interest us keep on coming up as a topic of conversation.
Ridiculous or hilarious ?
Both
I agree. So ridicularious.
Hilardicous sounds more posh.
How do you make a game "less addictive"?
Is this a cheap knockoff of Flappy Goat?
It totally is. This guy is a rip off.
Hearts and timers.
A better question: "Is it actually that addictive, or do we play it purely because everyone else is?"
Soooo... GBA4iOS gets taken down but this comes back? It's like a ****ing fever-dream down here.
Yay now I can finally ignore it in the AppStore again!
Why is it coming back since there are now many of copies of the game do we need more crappy games on the market no -_-
Meh...I still have the original installed only because it was removed from the App Store. Bringing it back now seems kinda pointless considering how many superior clones there are...like FLAPTHULHU for instance.
Flapthulu is incredible!
Nguyen please....
Dong has obviously spent all his money lol i personally dont buy his crap that it was too addictive i think he is being strategic and has been all along. I mean what a pathetic excuse, whats funnier is that people believe him?? What a crock of shit, he knew what he was planning all along, and wanted to to make his game infamous... My two cents lol
The game will be completely irrelevent by August. It won't even be able to compete with the multitude of knock offs in the Flapp Store.
Seems like everyone missed the real story which is he's rereleasing flappy to cross promote his new game which is... A Mario themed canabalt clone
Sweet. The site's going to revert back to Flap Arcade. Just what we all wanted. 😒
Just when the "flappy madness" was starting to die down THIS happens. Well I guess I need to hurry up and get my game finished and launched so it can have some chance of living before getting drowned by more flappy clones.
BTW I actually have no issue with the original flappy bird. It was a simple idea that gave its creator success. There's nothing wrong with that. My issue lies with all of those flappy clones that bring nothing new except for a small skin change. These flappy clones flood the New Games section and unfortunately the quality and creative games get lost in the flood.
It's sad that the App Store has become a market full of copycats.
What kind of game are you working on (just curious)?
Its an arena style FPS with some simple but cool game-play elements. Its built using Unity 3D so graphically it comes pretty close to Dead Trigger (only with a more cartoon art style).
The game will hopefully be out later this month or early next month (depending on work). I currently don't have a Mac computer so it will be a "timed exclusive" for Android (until I have enough for a (MacBook Pro).
The game will have a free version with well placed (not annoying) adds and a $1.99 version with more levels and no adds. The paid version (as well as the free version to a lesser extent) will be regularly updated with new maps and possibly new game modes.
This is no rush job. I've been working on this non stop for the past 4 months but its looking fantastic. I can't wait for you guys to see it (especially sense this was mostly a one man job).
Sounds awesome. Definitely take your time :3
I foresaw this return to the App Store way back when he first pulled it :-/ It's all just a publicity stunt.
What's the point of releasing it again? It won't be as popular as it was and OMG THERE'S ALREADY TOO MANY #%*@^ FLAPPY BIRD CLONES ON THE APP STORE DONT PUT THIS PEACE OF #@%* BACK ON THERE PEOPLE ARE SICK OF SEEING THIS #@*#%_+ ESPECIALLY ME OH #%^* NO LEAVE THIS @"#% OUT OF THE APP STORE AND GOOGLE PLAY STORE IT'S DONE NO MORE FLAPPY BIRD #nomoreflappybird !!! 😡😤😡👎👊
You're like the angry evil twin of Speedyph
Yes, the game was overhyped but I enjoy a flap now and then still. I really liked so many of the Flappy Jam games and was bummed more of them didn't make it to iOS. I think phone gaming is perfect for the flappy-type experience and I look back rather fondly at the whole phenomenon. I know you guys will think I'm crazy. I save the "real games" for iPad.
PRAISE JESUS!!
He speaks as if he had just incidentally created the ultimate Skinner box ever. It is not.
I'm extremely glad he is bringing it back. He is the original creator and deserves all of the credit and the money. It pisses me off to no end looking at all of the replicas of his game. I have no clue how those are allowed since they are the same thing. They are not original ideas.
He should've left it up all along. He would've been a multi-millionaire by now.
YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS! My addiction can be quenched!
Of course Jared is the one on this review and not Eli. Being that he produced one of the many clones that plague the App Store. and now just when I think the App Store is going to return to normal... BOOM nope it's not. maybe one day but as of now because of this news. Not gonna happen. really thank you flappy nerds of America. if it weren't for your contribution to video games then I would almost forget how small minded some gamers are.✌️
I want to make a game called flappy dildos.
I see 100 comments hating/praising the game and then there is this. 😂😂😂😂😂
Does this mean you'll only be able to play a run or two and then have a timer you can't bypass before you can play again? That would make it less addictive.
You know, the more I read the comments on some of these articles, the more I realize I hate all of you. You all are so childish. You all are almost as bad as GameFAQs, and that's saying quite a bit.
I can't even recognize most of these usernames anymore. The ones I remembered were much more respectful, and not as entitled and bratty. I'm not saying I'm not guilty of any of this, but still, you know.
Be the change you wish to see in the world. :D Also, I freaking hate flappy bird and will never DL it.
Oh say it ain't so... The idiocy returns :/
I'm so glad that the App Store focuses on quality, rather than quantity. My game-starved iPhone has been a total drought lately. Nothing is as satisfying as touching the screen to make a bird flap to avoid pipes. It's really the definition of success and is a symphony, no, a coming together of gaming's best elements. Finally, I can embrace gaming on my iOS device, and in full force. Thank you, Flappy Bird dev. You have changed my life.
What do I do with the old app installed on my device?
I don't get this. I really don't all this rage and all it does is keep that very hated topic alive...
Wow. Humans...
You answered your own question. Humans. Has there ever been a time in our collective history when hate wasn't the dominate inclination in humanity. History says no. In fact people should expect hate before anything else, if they're being realistic in their world view. It's sad but that's us. We all need to own it because out doubt that natural state of mind is going to go away anytime soon.
We hate this because it's for stupid people. Play a real game. Flappy is tomorrow's menudo.
I wish he named the game after himself.