Clearly not content with Downwell, a game that quite literally turned the infinite climber on its head simply by requesting that the player harness gravity instead of fight against it, designer Ojiro "Moppin" Fumoto continues to both expand the scope of the genre and carve his own niche. Poinpy's innovation is less immediately apparent, though- you're managing your jumps, avoiding enemies, and collecting fruits to progress- hardly anything groundbreaking, at least at a surface level. But try and handle Poinpy in the frantic, twitchy reaction-dependent manner that these types of games usually promote and you won't end up getting very far. Instead, it's really a game of planning, spacing, and timing, or, in short, high-speed golf. Getting the most out of each of your jump orbs means creatively figuring out how many onscreen entities you can target with a single swipe, even if you're not moving strictly upwards in the process. Moppin's got a good head on head on his shoulders, and pretty much every nuance here works in Poinpy's favor. The timer not ending until you finish a recipe, for instance, means you're more encouraged to tee up that one perfect shot rather than complete just a decent one quickly. Though, my enthusiasm towards this one started waning when it begun truly feeling like the mobile game that it is. Meta-progress was something that Downwell explicitly avoided, so it's disappointing to see it featured prominently here, especially considering the game eventually feels almost unplayable without certain unlocks. Likewise, Poinpy's most satisfying moments, which almost entirely consist of grabbing the last fruit you needed by the skin of your teeth right before landing, aren't enough to counteract the identical feeling of every run. I do well every once in a while but I can't point out why, instead it feels like I'm just repeating the same things I always do. Moppin's enthusiasm towards the genre is certainly inspiring, but he's far more optimistic than I, and, for me, this one lands in the same pile that all the others do. Fun in short bursts, but not much further.

Sidenote that tacking high quality mobile games onto services that I already pay for is something that I'd love to see more of. I don't know if I'll ever fork over money for an iPhone game, but I think the platform has untapped potential, so it'd be great to see devs who take it seriously get funding instead of having to resort to, y'know, the works. Surprised Netflix jumped in before something like Gamepass.