ORBB
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iOS
| ORBB

Humankind has been gobbling dots in the name of digital entertainment ever since the original Pac-Man.

ORBB takes that dot-gobbling premise into outer space. Which sounds awfully lofty and ambitious, doesn't it?

It's not. It literally involves gobbling up dots in amongst the planets.

Join the dots

In fact, this is a surprisingly tame, unassuming puzzler.

Contrary to my misleading introduction (sorry about that), ORBB doesn't actually play anything like Pac-Man. You'll still have seen these mechanics many times before, though.

Your glowing orb (just the one 'B,' thanks) sticks to a rotating planetoid. Tapping the screen fires the orb from that planetoid, allowing to to arc away according to the law of gravity until it sticks to another.

In this way you can hoover up the rows of dots scattered around the spaces in-between.

Stuck in orbit

There's no way to slip up here, really. Miss your planet and fall off screen, and your orb will simply reappear at the top.

Similarly, there's no time limit at play here. The level finishes when you hoover up your last dot.

On one hand, this leads to an easy-going vibe. On the other, it's easy to slip into a lazy approach of just pinging around carelessly, picking up odd dots here and there. This makes getting those last few dots pretty irritating.

In a sense, then, you almost have to make your own fun and enforce your own standards of practice here, which isn't really ideal.

Adding colour

Thinks pick up a little some way in when a colour system is introduced. Now, you have to aim for the green dots first. Hit a red one, and your progress will be reset.

This adds a little more structure and challenge to the levels, though of course you lose a little of that freewheeling appeal.

All in all, ORBB feels like a nice little diversion rather than an essential puzzler. It certainly isn't doesn't take dot-gobbling anywhere near the stratosphere.

ORBB

A competent, easy-going spatial puzzler without the clear personality or freshness needed to really grab you
Score
Jon Mundy
Jon Mundy
Jon is a consummate expert in adventure, action, and sports games. Which is just as well, as in real life he's timid, lazy, and unfit. It's amazing how these things even themselves out.