Rotato Leaves One Hand Free For … You Know, Whatever [Review]

Sometimes you want to play a game on your iPhone, but you’re also carrying groceries or a bouquet of flowers or a sandwich.

Seriously, it happens.

And when it happens, it’s usually impossible. Some games demand two hands, or you can only play them in landscape mode, which is unwieldy. You end up looking like a person in the black-and-white clips of an infomercial, for whom opening a can of tuna or dusting are the most difficult acts imaginable. And nobody wants to be a black-and-white infomercial person.

But Rotato by Floor 27 Industries solves all of that by being easily playable with one hand. And ridiculous analogies aside, it’s actually pretty fun and addictive.

Here’s how it works: Rotato takes place on a spinning record with four grooves. Players control a spade-shaped widget that can pass between the outer- and inner-most tracks with single taps on the screen. The goal is to collect as many of the coins moving along the grooves while avoiding red “mines.”

Close misses on the mines increase the score multiplier. Collecting a star turns the game into Pac-Man by making the player temporarily invincible and letting them collect the now-vulnerable mines. Colliding with a mine ends the game immediately, but it just takes a second to give it another shot.

The developer has been adding power-ups like coin doublers and the ability a slower turning speed for the record since release, and you can buy them between rounds with all those coins you’ve been collecting.

If the game has a flaw, it’s that its simplicity belies the fact that every round plays the same. The power-ups add a little variety, and competitive types can compare high scores with their friends, but it’s a time-killer at most.

Game Name: : Rotato The Good: Quick, simple, and addictive gameplay. The Bad: Not much more to it than that. The Verdict: Rotato is an easy-to-learn, fast-to-play, skill-based title that’s good for the bus stop or elevator but ultimately lacks longevity. Buy from: App Store

[rating=game4]