Game: Grab Toy
Genre: Platformer, Action, Adventure
System: Steam (Windows)
Developer|Publisher: Yaqut Games
Controller Support: Full
Price: UK £2.89 | US $3.99 | EU € 3,29
Release Date: November 10th, 2021
Review code provided with many thanks to Yaqut Games.
Stairway to Victory
Grab Toy is a simple 3D puzzler where the idea is to push or pull blocks in order to create a stairway to reach the goal at the top. It’s a project with a simple idea and a low budget but sells itself at a cheap price. But is it worth a look? Let’s grab the game and find out.
You play as a dinosaur (who looks a lot like a Rhino) toy who I decided to call Gerrard. Apparently, an evil wizard is causing trouble and Gerrard needs to work with the rest of the toys to save the day. There’s not really a lot of plot to speak of in this game since you’re mostly just going to be focusing on the gameplay. Gameplay that focuses just on Gerrard. I sort of just played this game and imagined a short story about Gerrard in my head which I won’t bore you with in this review.
Push, Pull
The game is quite formulaic for a puzzle game. You play over 40 levels, with the aim being to reach the goal at the top of the tower of blocks by pushing and pulling them. The difficulty of the puzzles varies, some will only take a minute or two, while in others it’s likely you’ll hit the blocky wall at some point and scratch your head trying to figure out how to push and pull the blocks in the right order to climb your way to the top.
With the 3D design, you are able to grab blocks from the front or the side opening up all sorts of strategies to create the best toy-like stairwell. You can also jump which allows you to leap about a block’s worth to another platform. It’s quite likely you may leap off your block puzzle unable to get back up or possibly just get stuck. If that happens you can quickly restart the level from the beginning. It’s a decent enough puzzle experience but there is not a lot of thrill to the game other than the pushing and pulling. I tended to find myself just playing it in short bursts since it didn’t particularly hook me with its lack of variety in gameplay.
The game offers full controller support, although actual blocks felt a bit awkward like I really had to hard press on the face button to make sure the rhino fella actually grabbed the set of blocks. This is not a huge issue as the game moves at a slow and relaxing pace, there is no rush to finish the puzzle. You can also collect coins during the level to unlock new cosmetics.
Graphics and Niggles
The graphics are OK. There’s not really a distinct style that makes it stand out from the crowd. From a distance, the block puzzles look fine with various colours to help you identify each set that can be moved. In the background, it appears you are in a children’s playroom but you can only explore the 3D table you inhabit. It would have been interesting to have some of the block puzzles present with a bit more variety but what is here certainly has the family-friendly vibe suitable for all audiences.
The main rhino character looks a little ugly which may not be apparent playing the game but when things zoom in on the unlockable cosmetics menu, things just look pretty janky and off. The game also has a repetitive soundtrack which I’m afraid I soon turned off in favour of listening to some silly podcast instead.
Niggle wise I found the rhino character occasionally got stuck in the blocks, which required a restart of the level to fix. I also discovered on occasion you can sort of cheat the game and double jump up blocks to access areas you really shouldn’t. It has some rough edges but is totally playable and I guess you as the player can choose not to be naughty and cheat like me.
Grab Game
Grab Toy doesn’t offer many thrills or bring anything particularly unique to the experience. But if you’re looking to scratch that puzzle itch and want something relaxing that is available to you at a nice cheap price, then consider giving this a look. For me, the game just about scrapes a positive review, since I feel the developer set out what they wanted to do. I feel this would probably be a nice game for a parent to sit down and enjoy with their child as a cute bonding exercise but maybe that’s my imagination running away with me. Probably the best game with a rhino in it I’ve played this year but not the best puzzler.
Final Verdict: I Like it
