Original Release: Gravitysensation, 2014, PC/Android/iOS
A sumo game with intentionally janky physics, meant more for comedy and YouTube videos than serious competition.
Sumotori Dreams (Android, Gravitysensations, 2014)
Where to Buy: Amazon
Review by: C. M0use
Back in the PC gaming world that I grew up in, Sumotori Dreams would have been something that someone gave away for free as a fun little experiment and demonstration of their skills. In App World it’s something someone actually tries to sell you for $1.
It’s another of those “intentional physics glitch” games like Goat Simulator, where the game is shallow and the gameplay sucks but it’s supposed to be worth your money on account of all the hi-larity that ensues. The game does hold to the base rules of sumo; the first player to have a body part other than their feet touch the ground loses, and you have to open each match by tapping to touch your hand to the ground. But from there the combatants awkwardly shuffle toward each other like they just learned how to walk, and contact with pretty much anything will make them topple over.
There are two types of slaps you can execute, and also up and down buttons that have a function I still can’t discern, and you can usually win a match with a well-timed slap. But for the most part this is entirely random and revolves around watching the character models awkwardly trip over each other. Basically, we go through all this evolution of entertainment and comedy in the visual mediums over the decades and now we’ve circled right back around to pratfalls. Except it’s funny again because it’s jiggly polygon guys, I guess.
Anyway, as with contemporary Goat Simulator, this idea stops being entertaining very quickly and leaves you with no long-term substance whatsoever. You can make the guys wrestle in various environments with various types of obstacles around, like a seesaw or a lumber yard, but it’s always the same base match that lasts about three seconds before someone topples over. We’re not quite at Ow My Balls: The Game just yet, but companies like Gravitysensation are certainly blazing the trail there.
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