One Button Bob

One Button Bob

Website: http://www.ninjadoodle.com/one-button-bob/
Developer: Tom "Ninjadoodle" Vencel
Platform: Flash

As games become more complex in their graphics, controls and gameplay, indie game developers seem to go the other way, making games that are often minimalistic. Like VVVVVV, One Button Bob takes one gameplay mechanic and explores it in many ways. You control Bob through a series of trials with only your left mouse button.

The concept of a single button control is interesting. With the same button, you control how far you leap; you attack enemies with your boomerang; you pause in your tracks to evade falling spikes; you move forward with each click. The button's behavior changes with different types of stages and in learning to identify them, you'll know how to win them. While there are only 7 (I think) kinds of stages, they get progressively more difficult. For example in the early stage, you only have to leap over a narrow chasm. A later stage requires you to time your jumps and control how far you jump, as the platform you're standing on disappears in a few seconds.

The good news is when you die, you simple start over in the same stage. And the bad? It's a little unfair how some stages spring obstacles right in front of you as you're near the end. Despite that, it's a pretty easy game and anyone can finish it in a few minutes. The most challenging part of the game is the final boss stage where you change your direction with a mouse click. The trick is to anticipate the falling bombs and get close to the boss so you could deal some damage. Still, the levels are too short and lack some sort of a challenge to be satisfying and it's a pity because it seems that the single-click gameplay mechanic has not been explored to its full potential.

The pixel artwork is lovely and the gameplay is more innovative than many Flash games on the internet. So never mind its flaws, One Button Bob is still a great way of spending five minutes of your time.


-- Benjamin