Polyroll is a platformer that takes more than a little inspiration from the original Sonic the Hedgehog game. The evil Kaiser Kiwi has captured Polyroll's friends, and through rolling, jumping, collecting gems, and power-ups, it's up to you as the player to save them (There is ambiguity here as I am not really sure exactly what kind of creature Polyroll is meant to be).

Graphically a lot of the game suffers from this issue. The sprite art is pretty competent and varied, and looks like a bridge between the eight and sixteen bit systems of old, but everything is so zoomed out (at least on the iPhone), that it can be tough to see every enemy and projectile as you run, jump, and roll your way through the levels.

Jumping and rolling are controlled by the two big buttons in the bottom right corner, and moving is controlled via the directional pad. Jumping on enemies will dispose of them, as well as charging up your zoom with the A button. This button also is also used when you collect power-ups such as the bomb, which drops explosives on enemies below when you're jumping over them. Other power-ups grant you such abilities as attracting all the gems towards you as you pass, or being able to walk on spikes without consequence. As platformers with on-screen buttons go, this is one of the better executed instances on the iPhone, but on many occasions, the directional buttons would not respond, especially during a jump, and this can definitely impact your game experience negatively and leave a bit of a bitter taste in your mouth.

As a throwback to 2D platformers of old, Polyroll succeeds with its pixel art, music, and mechanics that pay homage to the moves of a certain blue hedgehog. Platformer fans should enjoy themselves, but aside from being a decent enough nostalgia ride, there really isn't much more to the experience, and that makes it harder to recommend to everyone else.