''Armillo'' is a 3D

puzzle-platform game A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...

developed by Fuzzy Wuzzy Games. It was released on July 3, 2014, for the

Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. Th ...

on the Nintendo eShop. A

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ser ...

port was released on July 3, 2020.

Gameplay

''Armillo'' is an

action Action may refer to: * Action (narrative), a literary mode * Action fiction, a type of genre fiction * Action game, a genre of video game Film * Action film, a genre of film * ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford * ''Action'' (1980 fil ...

platform game A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...

in which the playable character, an armadillo named Armillo, rolls around a 3D space. He can perform three primary actions: roll, jump, and boost. The game is designed around the concept of an

obstacle course An obstacle course is a series of challenging physical obstacles an individual, team or animal must navigate, usually while being timed. Obstacle courses can include running, climbing, jumping, crawling, swimming, and balancing elements with th ...

, so the player is constantly being presented to various new puzzles, mechanics, and challenges. Gameplay has been likened to other games such as the ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' series, ''

Super Mario Galaxy is a 2007 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii. It is the third 3D game in the ''Super Mario'' series. As Mario, the player embarks on a quest to rescue Princess Peach, save the universe from Bowser, and collect 1 ...

'', and the ''

Super Monkey Ball ''Super Monkey Ball'' is a series of arcade platform video games initially developed by Amusement Vision and published by Sega. The series debuted in 2001 with the arcade game ''Monkey Ball'', which was ported to GameCube as ''Super Monkey Ba ...

'' series. Players primarily progress through levels by rolling Armillo and have the option to utilize the tilt controls of the Wii U's GamePad to do so. Armillo is aided in his quest through special abilities and power-ups such as a size boost and the Critter gun which fires the non-playable Critters at Armillo's enemies. While the majority of the game takes place in a 3D world, there are unlockable 2D bonus stages in every single non-boss level. Purchasable upgrades, obtained using blue orbs collected in levels, also enable optional backtracking of previously completed levels.

Development

''Armillo'' was developed by Fuzzy Wuzzy Games for the Wii U and is distributed on the Nintendo eShop. The game was originally planned to be a timed exclusive, and was scheduled to be released on other platforms within a few months of release, but this fell through. The decision was made in honor of Nintendo's recent support for

independent developers An indie game, short for independent video game, is a video game typically created by individuals or smaller development teams without the financial and technical support of a large game publisher, in contrast to most "AAA" (triple-A) games. ...

. The game was released on Steam for free in July 2020 with the option to support the developers for $3.99.

Reception

''Armillo'' received mixed reviews since its release. It holds an aggregate score of 79% at GameRankings and 72 at

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the latter of which indicates mixed or average reviews.

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Video games 2014 video games Puzzle-platformers Video games developed in Canada Wii U eShop games Indie games Wii U games Single-player video games Windows games