Bovinedragon Software were one of the pioneers of the App Store - in Trace (a free game which we haven't covered, but would certainly recommend) they created one of the first full, totally free, content rich games. To be sure, the game had it's own distinct style and even bested paid for games at the time as a labour of love. Now they're back, this time with a pay to play title called Gomi.

Our modern industrial economy takes a mountain covered with trees, lakes, running streams and transforms it into a mountain of junk, garbage, slime pits, and debris.

Edward Abbey

Welcome to a world which is literally covered in man-made debris. Your job is to vacuum all this debris up, which can include cars, traffic lights, shopping trolleys, buildings, vending machines, rubbish bins, road signs and many more - even including 'Trace souvenirs' later on in the game. There's too many to even list here - every stage is packed tightly. Starting off with small fry, you'll be able to 'eat' larger objects as you progress through.

Depending on the level type you could be eating as much as you can within two minutes, or finding all of a certain object type, or racing through the level, and so on. Each stage has a selection of these modes for you to try, although completing them all isn't necessary to unlock the next one. As you progress you'll find new Gomies [sic] to customise with different shapes, colours or abilities.

It's genuinely fun to roll around, eating everything in sight and spawning new growth underneath

For example, the first ability you get is a high jump, but you can collect a 'growth' ability that enlarges your Gomi for a few seconds, an ability that nullifies gravity, and one that allows you to zip along at faster than normal speed. Although only one ability can picked at any one time, you have unlimited use of it so long as the special meter is full. Tapping on your Gomi initiates your ability, tapping anywhere else jumps (it's not so long ranged). You can tilt around the levels, jumping from platform to platform with ease - bear in mind that each platform has it's own gravity. Geysers will allow even longer jumps to hard to reach platforms.

If you've played Rolando, the controls will remind you of playing as a Spiky Commando - indeed, the game could be described as a fusion between Katamari Damacy and Rolando. Although it can appear to be sluggish at times, this pacing suits the game down to a tee. It's genuinely fun to roll around, eating everything in sight and spawning new growth underneath, covering the world in green.

Remarkably, the developers didn't stop there and decided to add eight mini games. Eight. And these are just as fun as the main game - the highlight for us is the game that has you avoiding certain death by Tetris pieces, but there's plenty of other well produced spinoffs that could, with a little more polish, be released separately. It's incredible that you get these at all, given the small price of entry.

Now the presentation isn't the game's strongest suit - indeed, a larger developer could have taken this idea and built a richer visual treat around it. However, dismissing Gomi on its presentation would be a foolish move - it has a charm all its own, a hand drawn game that is bursting with fun, great music and lots and lots of content.

We can't give this game any other recommendation. It has some unique gameplay ideas and bosses, multiple modes, online leader boards for just about everything, eight mini games and it's really, really cheap. Download it today, and pick up Trace whilst you're at the App Store.

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Why not try...

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  Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor

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  Rolando 2: Quest for the Golden Orchid

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  Sway

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  Rolando