Universal Soosiz (by Touch Foo)

I honestly think it doesn't have enough stages, I'm playing Backbreaker instead to keep from powering through the whole game in one night.

 

loving the game!!!! its sooooo fun and addictive

 

Same here. I'm taking my time through the game.
I'm only on World 2 Level 3

 

Well one think for sure, it blows the Rolando games away, they seem so tedious now. Castle Magic and Bounce On too.

I just wish the main character could walk a little faster by default. At first I though his speed was just right for beginners but I got the controls working so fast, now it seems like he could have just a bit more pep in his step.

What amazes me is that in the screenshots and video, I thought there would be parts where I'd be lost and disoriented, but the levels are layed out so well, and the arrows and level map so well done that at any given point I know where where to go to find my friends, etc.

I also like triangle jumping aka jumping off one side of a vine as I near a land mass, quickly walk and jump to the other side of the vine instead of walking all the way off. It's a 180 flip and I never got disoriented.

I hope the game sells so that the devs can update with more levels that are even more challenging, like a Mario level, I think I'm up for it.

 

Review: Soosiz is the gravity-defying platformer you’ve been waiting for

Developers often ask me what will make their game a hit. Unlike my reviews, my response is usually brief—create an entertaining game that is heavy on personality and content, and then market it in every way possible to reach your audience. From all indications, Touch Foo is already halfway there with its new 2D platformer Soosiz. Engrossing in gameplay as it is oozing with charm, Soosiz is the epitome of how to take a not-so-original concept and infuse it with creativity and imagination.

A gravity game at heart, Soosiz is a game about personal loss, discovery and vengeance…well sort of, except in a fun way. These round creatures live peacefully in the magical world of Soosiz until one day, an evil overtakes the land sending the little guys into oblivion. As luck would have it, however, one manages to escape and begin an epic journey through 7 different and diverse worlds each with its own unique boss to rescue his people while destroying the evil.

Using your little hero, the primary objective is to reach the portal at the end of each level, but as you journey through the 65 levels, you’ll have the opportunity to rescue other little guys in your pursuit of evil. Rescuing other little guys does come with its rewards since some of them provide special powers such as faster speed and higher jumps. These little guys also serve another purpose. While you can earn gold, silver and bronze medals, you’ll need to rescue all the little guys in a level to earn a gold medal in order to unlock additional levels. In later levels, successful rescues become even more important since unlocking their special powers is necessary to completing the level.

Fair or not, people inherently judge based on what they see. The residents of Soosiz look like little Mr. Potato Heads, each with his and her own personality. The artwork in Soosiz, while presented in vibrant colors and set in unique environments, isn’t earth shattering. In fact, the 2D worlds look similar to what you’d find in other similar games such as Rolando and Gomi. But the use of alternating backgrounds and game elements are used more effectively in Soosiz. Often, rolling from the surface to go underneath a platform changes the surrounding environment, which is a nice touch. For what it is, Soosiz provides a good amount of visuals throughout the different worlds. From the enchanting world of Soosiz and the chill of Snowland to the depths of the Deep Sea and journeying Up in the Stars, each world offers a treasure trove of possibilities and elements. Combined with the lighthearted, synthesized music tracks, Soosiz is an immersive experience.

At any given time, you can stop the action and pan the screen by tapping the magnifying glass icon to see what obstacles await. In this mode, the game shows the direction of the portal as well as where little guys need rescue. Since each stage provides 3 lives to start which you’ll find aren’t enough especially in the later stages, one perk to look for is a little guy with a heart since this awards additional lives.

Enemies come in all shapes and sizes, some more intelligent than others. While the enemies don’t have specific names, generally they are round and prickly, although sea monsters and space zombies also make their presence known. Other enemies actually appear to be traitors of Soosiz carrying weapons to attack our little hero. Most of the time, the little hero and his buddies can outrun enemies. In other cases, they can be knocked off by jumping on them.

Gravity is a big focus of Soosiz, and you’ll need to cleverly leverage the laws of gravity to not complete the levels, but also unlock special levels. While dodging and knocking off enemies and doing the hero thing rescuing others, gold coins can be collected with a super power awarded for every 100 collected (think Mario Bros). One good feature is that this super power isn’t automatically activated once you collect the 100th gold coin. Instead, Soosiz gives you the option of activating it when you choose. In addition, collecting gold coins also unlocks Blue Coin challenge levels. These challenge levels consist of collecting blue coins within timed levels, with rewards of bonus points and further tests your competency as a master of gravity. If that wasn’t enough, Soosiz has its share of secrets—12 to be exact—waiting to be discovered. These aren’t obvious and like the little guys that need rescuing are usually hidden away surrounded by obstacles.

The basic controls initially don’t look like much since they consist of left and right movement buttons and a jump button. But honestly, I couldn’t imagine a more appropriate and responsive set of controls. Later on, accelerometer controls come into play when movement is limited to balancing the little hero on balls.

What will matter to most is the gameplay and Soosiz does not disappoint. The levels are well designed and well thought out to provide both variety in gameplay elements and different challenges. While many will undoubtedly compare Soosiz to Gomi, Soosiz is much more of a real-time adventure game where speed and ingenuity go hand in hand. As I mentioned, each of the worlds have unique attributes or conditions that impact your little hero. For example, the slippery surface impacts movement making it difficult to be accurate in Snowland. In Up in the Stars, the lack of gravity will affect jumps, while Deep Sea allows you to leverage the properties of water to move around. Playing this game can be disorienting since your little hero will jump from island to island and move from top to bottom and vice versa throughout. On occasion, you’ll even come across springboards of some kind that can be used to give your little hero a little oomph in his jump to reach a faraway platform.

While I could nitpick and somehow develop a list of shortcomings, I won’t do that. Frankly, Soosiz is a complete game with a great visual style, responsive controls, and dizzying gameplay. If you enjoy platformers, then Soosiz is not only worth considering, it’s a must have. And to the devs—market Soosiz as much as possible and get the word out.

Albie Meter: 5 Stars (challenging gameplay in immersive worlds; platform lovers should immediately be drawn to this; coin and medal system along with a good amount of levels ensure replayability)

 

Ok time to buy

 

Great review BA! As you said, the game is complete as it is I'm only in World 2 but already the levels are getting tough! Either that or I just suck.

It does have a few minor shortcomings, e.g. coins for kills would be nice, and checkpoints/lives system might be a good idea for some of the harder levels. Also could be good to have a weapon that you can shoot/throw, although I'd rather the developers start work on a sequel than spend any significant time updating what is already a brilliant game!

As far as marketing goes, jacking the price up by 1300% seems to get people's attention around here...

 

I guess the few shortcomings that we notice are just things that we want for the game to be perfect in some sort of Mario way (I agree with the coin per kill comments).

World 2 is ramps up the difficulty at the best possible way, where you may keep going and finish the world or spend some time dying a few times to clear the blue coin levels. Even the font is growing on me now, especially how the main menu changes based on the world you are playing. This game is full of personality.

My current picks for game of the year (or trimester, there are too many games): spider, moki, m blitz and soosiz. These games are just too satisfying, leaving the impression that we should have paid more. This is the kind of game that I would easily pay for DLC (hint )

 

outta those 4 I'd say this is the best one. This game is super.

 

Is an amazing game. There are two, 5/4.5 star reviews in the reviews section if that doesn't say enough about the game.

 

Alright, this is sick how addicting this game is. I'm loving this design - such an interesting variation on the Mario concept.

If you like the classic Mario games, you need to own this.

In fact, I'm going to stop writing now because I want to play more

 

I reached the 3rd world (evil stars, moon platforms and dangerous flying comets). Progressing in the game is not too hard but the levels become more & more difficult
About the 2nd world, the big grey balls are the most diabolical things I saw in my gamer life you have to jump on their little red part to kill them, but they are always rolling. The boss is pretty impressive too, just because of the level design which becomes harder every time you succeed to touch him It's not a Mario-like level as for the 1st boss but it's a perfect one for the game.

The game is definitively not repetitive
And don't forget to rate Soosiz on iTunes, it deserves a lot to be in the top 10

 

I hate to nitpick (I know that was aimed at me. :/) but this game really needs a coin reward for beating an enemy in an update. I went through a whole level without touching an enemy once.

And I think 1 or 2 more levels are needed. Why, you may ask? To boost up the number of Secrets - maybe 2 levels, with the awesome trailer music that are only obtained by getting gold on every level, that all of the soosiz friends are only found by triggering secrets.

 

late to the party on this one! only played the first 5 or so levels and 1 bonus but am enjoying it a lot so far. naturally it will get trickier so cant wait for that.

controls, visuals and audio all fit together in harmony. perfect game for anyone i reckon

 

Guess that means I'm even later. Game looks and sounds great! Downloading now!

 

Guess i'm even later , gonna get it later tonight. Looks great .

 

This game has given me even more hope for Plushed. I didn't think a platformer could be doing very well on the iPod/iPhone before, but now because of this game I have high hopes for Plushed, Soosiz has shown me that a platform game with great controls, personality and style can be achieved on this platform

And yes I've played the Rolandos, Bounce On, COM, Archibald(best one IMO, aside from Soosiz), but something always felt missing from those experiences.

Now I wish somebody would do the same for FPS's/RPG's

 

Actually I used to be hyped for Plushed cause of the art style, but looking at the trailer, there's barely any platforming going on, let alone real serious platforming. Using pizza to bait a bouncing platform into position is the only thing I've seen that's a little bit clever, otherwise it's slow and has rudimentary design like they felt like they had to dumb it down "for the iphone's touchscreen" or something. I'm willing to be proved wrong though.