After cutting their teeth on more casual experiences like GardenLab and DisMonster, Dabadu Games released the explosive platformer It’s Full of Sparks back in early 2018, a game we enjoyed very much at the time. Now they’ve partnered with publisher Rogue Games to bring a similarly quirky title to iOS devices today called Giant Dancing Plushies ($3.99). It’s all kind of right there in the title: You control gigantic stuffed animals using light rhythm-based gameplay in order to stomp through the city dispatching all opposing forces and getting your groove on in the process. The city around you literally pulses to the beat and your giant plushies strike some seriously incredible poses as they merrily destroy everything in their path.
While there’s certainly a rhythm-based element to the gameplay in Giant Dancing Plushies, it’s not as strict as most games in the genre and is described as more of a dancing simulator by Dabadu. They don’t want you to stress over hitting every single note perfectly but rather just kind of feel the overall beat in order to move your plushie along, very similar to movement in Crypt of the NecroDancer. It seems extremely obvious that Giant Dancing Plushies was originally designed as a free to play game, as it has numerous upgradeables, collectibles, daily rewards, and more. However, this is a pay-once premium game.
To be honest I’m not totally sure how I feel about that sort of mixed message monetization just yet, but at the very least it’s nice to know there’s no additional spending needed beyond the initial buy-in. And the gameplay and visuals in Giant Dancing Plushies is very satisfying so far. This originally launched as an Android exclusive back in December, so there’s definitely some impressions and reviews out in the wild for those who seek it, and of course there’s always our own forums to find out what our community thinks. The irony here is that I vastly prefer paid games but it’s so much easier to recommend everyone to check out a game like Giant Dancing Plushies when it’s free, but if you enjoy Crypt of the NecroDancer or similar rhythm games I think you’ll find a lot to enjoy here too.
