iO review for PS4, PS Vita, Xbox One

Platform: PS4
Also On: PS Vita, PC, Xbox One
Publisher: Gamious
Developer: Gamious
Medium: Digital
Players: 1
Online: No
ESRB: E

Here’s how forgettable iO is: I honestly thought I wrote this review weeks and weeks ago, and only discovered just now, by chance, that I’d made that up in my head.

In my defense, iO is, as I said, hugely forgettable. On top of that, it’s also incredibly generic: it’s a platformer where you’re rolling a ball from point A to point B. The specifics may differentiate it a little from some of its peers and influences, but not to any degree that makes the game memorable or worth checking out.

I’d like to say that I’m oversimplifying things for effect, but I swear that’s not the case. You really are just rolling a ball around a 2D environment. Occasionally you make the ball grow or shrink, depending on what kind of momentum you’re trying to build and the direction in which you’re aiming for.

Not only that, iO isn’t even visually interesting. It’s got a fondness for the colours blue and orange…and that’s really the only thing memorable about it.

But not too memorable. Because, as noted, iO is not a memorable game. The good news, I suppose, is that being thoroughly forgettable also means that it’s not memorably bad, either, but if that’s the game’s major selling point, it should tell you how far away you should stay.

Grade: C