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Metroid Inspired 'Grokion' Finally Arrives

posted June 6th, 2010 2:52 AM EST by arn in $0.99, iPhone games, iPod touch games

Rozgo's Metroid inspired physics sidescroller has finally arrived for iPhone. We covered the game first back in October when it didn't even have a name. Inspired by the positive response, the developer redoubled his efforts and added new additional team members to take the game to the next level.

The game finally arrived yesterday on the App Store with a new launch video:

First impressions are being recorded in our discussion thread. So far, the response seems pretty positive, but with some rough edges. I've added the game to my list of games to try on my flight to WWDC.

App Store Link: Grokion, $0.99

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  • Killadude290

    I could swear that part of the background was missings when the bird was destroying the blocks in the trailer...

    Just brought it though, 'cause iPod touch/iPhone needs a MetroMan game (Metroid and MegaMan. I don't think it's really like the old castlevania games (The real ones), it's more futuristic and hard, like MegaMan)

  • Killadude290

    I could swear that part of the background was missings when the bird was destroying the blocks in the trailer...

    Just brought it though, 'cause iPod touch/iPhone needs a MetroMan game (Metroid and MegaMan. I don't think it's really like the old castlevania games (The real ones), it's more futuristic and hard, like MegaMan)

  • Killadude290

    oh and (just to be annoying) I WAS 1ST LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL :P

    What? Everyone else does it...

  • Killadude290

    oh and (just to be annoying) I WAS 1ST LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL :P

    What? Everyone else does it...

  • http://www.pandorascode.com Herr Kaleun

    Please moderate the comments on Super Quick Hook article.

  • http://www.pandorascode.com Herr Kaleun

    Please moderate the comments on Super Quick Hook article.

  • K

    Looks like great fun! Will get now!

  • K

    Looks like great fun! Will get now!

  • athom

    Indeed looks like great fun, and the price is so low .. o.o

  • athom

    Indeed looks like great fun, and the price is so low .. o.o

  • Bob

    I thought unity games were banned from the app store?

  • Bob

    I thought unity games were banned from the app store?

  • klouud

    The difficulty level is insane! Two shots from a turret and I am dead and be anywhere near a dying/exploding enemy and you die too.

    CRAZY HARD!

  • klouud

    The difficulty level is insane! Two shots from a turret and I am dead and be anywhere near a dying/exploding enemy and you die too.

    CRAZY HARD!

  • Diab

    Once you find the level 1 armour most hits will only do 10 damage to you, but the first few areas are rather tough without the suit.

  • Diab

    Once you find the level 1 armour most hits will only do 10 damage to you, but the first few areas are rather tough without the suit.

  • John Skelton

    For those with jailbroken ipads this works fantastically in fullforce mode.

  • John Skelton

    For those with jailbroken ipads this works fantastically in fullforce mode.

  • Killadude290

    I agree, had to restart twice.

    For loads of health, on the first room without exploding coveyorbelts, if you go in the bottom right door it's full of health, but when you come out there is a new spawned enemy.

    It does seem to be a good game

    ps. In the same part stated above when you reach the top you can jump
    into the ceiling where the black parts are (you fall straight through)

    pps. I am the same guy as the 1st post

  • Killadude290

    I agree, had to restart twice.

    For loads of health, on the first room without exploding coveyorbelts, if you go in the bottom right door it's full of health, but when you come out there is a new spawned enemy.

    It does seem to be a good game

    ps. In the same part stated above when you reach the top you can jump
    into the ceiling where the black parts are (you fall straight through)

    pps. I am the same guy as the 1st post

  • sk8erdude50

    how do I find the suit because I am at the objective where you are supposed to find the doctor guy but I am finding it impossible to do with my default suit.

  • sk8erdude50

    how do I find the suit because I am at the objective where you are supposed to find the doctor guy but I am finding it impossible to do with my default suit.

  • TrevHero

    Great game. Im stuck on the part after the first boss fight... The difficulty is ridiculous, but that makes it fun. It requires you to think about how you approach the level. Once again, great game and it's a steal for 99 cents.

  • TrevHero

    Great game. Im stuck on the part after the first boss fight... The difficulty is ridiculous, but that makes it fun. It requires you to think about how you approach the level. Once again, great game and it's a steal for 99 cents.

  • http://www.buzzabit.com/aaron aaronsullivan

    There is still some uncertainty about the new development agreement, but Unity apps have been freely flowing on to the App Store without a hitch. UT, the company that develops Unity, is committed to making it work one way or another. :)

  • http://www.buzzabit.com/aaron aaronsullivan

    There is still some uncertainty about the new development agreement, but Unity apps have been freely flowing on to the App Store without a hitch. UT, the company that develops Unity, is committed to making it work one way or another. :)

  • EatKodosDaily

    Animations look very... alpha quality. At 0.99$ though, I suppose I can take a chance...

  • EatKodosDaily

    Animations look very... alpha quality. At 0.99$ though, I suppose I can take a chance...

  • Mister Mumbles

    That's what I was thinking, too. On a whole it looks quite amateurish. *shrug*

  • Mister Mumbles

    That's what I was thinking, too. On a whole it looks quite amateurish. *shrug*

  • Morons

    60 FPS of crap

  • Morons

    60 FPS of crap

  • Bosconian

    It looks like a late 16bit / early 32bit era game, which is more than good enough for the genre this game represents.

    Graphics whores. >_>

  • Bosconian

    It looks like a late 16bit / early 32bit era game, which is more than good enough for the genre this game represents.

    Graphics whores. >_>

  • Diz

    The more and more I play it, the more I realize the touchy controls + insane difficulty = boring & tedious. I like challenging games, they increase replayability, but this game gets to the point where you're dying 20 times just to get through one section of a much larger obstacle course. It feels like I Wanna Be The Guy and not Metroid. Shooting off screen lowers the action of combat and raises the tactical part of combat, which doesn't help to switch up after the tediousness of getting through obstacles. Feels more like a runner game than an action platformer.

  • Diz

    The more and more I play it, the more I realize the touchy controls + insane difficulty = boring & tedious. I like challenging games, they increase replayability, but this game gets to the point where you're dying 20 times just to get through one section of a much larger obstacle course. It feels like I Wanna Be The Guy and not Metroid. Shooting off screen lowers the action of combat and raises the tactical part of combat, which doesn't help to switch up after the tediousness of getting through obstacles. Feels more like a runner game than an action platformer.

  • megasamus1

    Just finished the game, that was fun! I can't wait for episode 2!
    My only issue is that the second boss was a bit hard, there seemed to be no way to dodge most of his attacks...

  • megasamus1

    Just finished the game, that was fun! I can't wait for episode 2!
    My only issue is that the second boss was a bit hard, there seemed to be no way to dodge most of his attacks...

  • GDawg

    This is a challenging game, don't give up then start cutting it down :P

  • GDawg

    This is a challenging game, don't give up then start cutting it down :P

  • Pickles

    Awesome Game!

  • Pickles

    Awesome Game!

  • Greg

    What's wrong with them?

  • Greg

    What's wrong with them?

  • Phoenix526

    Hmm, controls feel a little choppy and there have been a few loading issues
    You might want to update this

  • Phoenix526

    Hmm, controls feel a little choppy and there have been a few loading issues
    You might want to update this

  • seearees

    The controls are terrible. Not smooth at all. The game itself looks awesome but until the controls are fixed it's not getting any play from me.

  • seearees

    The controls are terrible. Not smooth at all. The game itself looks awesome but until the controls are fixed it's not getting any play from me.

  • Mr. Gates

    The directional controls need to be floating. Fixed I seem to loose control of the character

  • Mr. Gates

    The directional controls need to be floating. Fixed I seem to loose control of the character

  • JimRAKETE

    The Game is cool but the controls are bullshit :(

  • JimRAKETE

    The Game is cool but the controls are bullshit :(

  • http://www.ravensword.com Josh Crescent Moon

    the controls work great for me, I'm not sure what everyone's issue with them is.

  • http://www.ravensword.com Josh Crescent Moon

    the controls work great for me, I'm not sure what everyone's issue with them is.

  • EatKodosDaily

    I'm not a graphics whore!
    I'm just saying that with animations that look as choppy and amateurish as that, who knows what else they skimped on?

  • EatKodosDaily

    I'm not a graphics whore!
    I'm just saying that with animations that look as choppy and amateurish as that, who knows what else they skimped on?

  • Christopher Brown

    Grokian looks and feels as if its infrastructure was cobbled together from Unity's 2D Gameplay Tutorial and, perhaps, their Penelope tutorial. It is my understanding that the code and assets in any Unity tutorial is free for use in any commercial or non-commercial production. I feel like Alexander Orozco did a great job taking the lessons published by Unity and applying them to his game.

  • Christopher Brown

    Grokian looks and feels as if its infrastructure was cobbled together from Unity's 2D Gameplay Tutorial and, perhaps, their Penelope tutorial. It is my understanding that the code and assets in any Unity tutorial is free for use in any commercial or non-commercial production. I feel like Alexander Orozco did a great job taking the lessons published by Unity and applying them to his game.

  • Zuriyahe

    I got it. So far, this looks great. I can understand the concerns regarding the controls, but for 0.99, it looks like I am going to getpretty good and is better for me than that .99 cents hamburger that I was about to get. So I recommend it.

  • Zuriyahe

    I got it. So far, this looks great. I can understand the concerns regarding the controls, but for 0.99, it looks like I am going to getpretty good and is better for me than that .99 cents hamburger that I was about to get. So I recommend it.

  • Zuriyahe

    I got it. So far, this looks great. I can understand the concerns regarding the controls, but for 0.99, it's better for me than a .99 cents hamburger that I was about to get. So I recommend it.

  • Zuriyahe

    I got it. So far, this looks great. I can understand the concerns regarding the controls, but for 0.99, it's better for me than a .99 cents hamburger that I was about to get. So I recommend it.

  • JoeyPepperoni

    I'm confused...

    This game was built with Unity 3D... I thought apple banned all apps built with 3rd party APIs or middleware from the AppStore.

    Does Unity not fall under this? If not, I'll surely be building some games in Unity!!

  • JoeyPepperoni

    I'm confused...

    This game was built with Unity 3D... I thought apple banned all apps built with 3rd party APIs or middleware from the AppStore.

    Does Unity not fall under this? If not, I'll surely be building some games in Unity!!

  • http://www.twitchfactor.com Twitchfactor

    Let's hope not, since if you actually calculate the games that use Unity, they're amongst the best on the App store.

  • http://www.twitchfactor.com Twitchfactor

    Let's hope not, since if you actually calculate the games that use Unity, they're amongst the best on the App store.

  • Annoyed

    would like better control scheme, maybe instead of enemies exploding on death they just dont explode??!?!? plz fix this coz im sick of dying coz an enemy has a massive blast radius that goes off the screen.

  • Annoyed

    would like better control scheme, maybe instead of enemies exploding on death they just dont explode??!?!? plz fix this coz im sick of dying coz an enemy has a massive blast radius that goes off the screen.

  • http://icesky-calvin.blogspot.com IceSky22AIZ

    It's not a bad game actually. But I keep dying way too much. Even one hit from any enemies is enough to kill me if I don't recharge my shields.

    The graphics aren't all that top notch, but it'll do. (Yeah, I am kind of a graphics whore. =S)

    I find the game needs to be polished up a little more. There are instances where I have found myself jumping INTO the ceiling and falling back down again. At first I thought there was a secret passage or something, but when I tried jumping back into it, I couldn't.

    Overall it still seems pretty buggy and the stats of the game are kind of imbalanced. And as EatKodosDaily said, the game is kinda alpha. Even the options screen doesn't have anything at all.

  • http://icesky-calvin.blogspot.com IceSky22AIZ

    It's not a bad game actually. But I keep dying way too much. Even one hit from any enemies is enough to kill me if I don't recharge my shields.

    The graphics aren't all that top notch, but it'll do. (Yeah, I am kind of a graphics whore. =S)

    I find the game needs to be polished up a little more. There are instances where I have found myself jumping INTO the ceiling and falling back down again. At first I thought there was a secret passage or something, but when I tried jumping back into it, I couldn't.

    Overall it still seems pretty buggy and the stats of the game are kind of imbalanced. And as EatKodosDaily said, the game is kinda alpha. Even the options screen doesn't have anything at all.


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