Get-A-Grip Chip is a cutesy platforming game in which you play as Chip, a robot with a magnet grappling hook. One day at work, an accident causes another worker bot, Scan-It Janet, to go berserk. Bots are scattered, the factory is sent into disarray, and it’s up to Chip to fix things.
Chip is a worker bot though, and as such he only has the ability to move left or right. There is no jump button and all vertical movement is done through the use of his aforementioned grapple. Luckily, anchor points are positioned throughout the factory, allowing Chip to navigate in all kinds of unique and interesting environments.
There are five different floors to explore, each with six levels. Each preceding room is locked behind two requirements. The first is a level clear requirement. One room will unlock upon making it to a new floor, and as the rooms are cleared, others open up. However, they will only open up if you’ve collected enough bots throughout the levels.
These little guys can be found floating around in boxes, with eight in each level. Hitting the box with your grapple will cause the bot to follow you around until you either hit a checkpoint or make it to the end of the level. These little guys can’t be hurt but if you manage to die, then you’ll need to collect them again.
As far as platformers go, there is plenty of charm and a solid premise built behind the gameplay. That being said, as an avid fan of platformers, there are a few mechanics that I have an innate preference for. The two main ones are tight controls and fast-paced movement. Get-A-Grip Chip has neither of those. The controls here are loose and floaty, which makes the gameplay a lot slower paced. Along with that, it makes navigating what could be challenging puzzles a lot easier.
Most of my deaths in the game were due to me being careless, trying to rush, or, honestly, just not paying attention. I wouldn’t consider Get-A-Grip Chip a challenging game and I think it is geared towards a younger audience, but those factors put me pretty far outside the target audience.
It’s not a bad game, but it’s not one I found challenging or rewarding. The first floors are very easy to progress through. Even easier if you choose to ignore collecting extra bots throughout each level. When I was playing, I started off going for as many bots as I could. But halfway through the first floor I realized I had more than I needed. At that point I managed to casually collect bots throughout each floor and I never once ran into any issues with progressing.
In fact, each floor has six levels to play through, but it’s possible to skip one on each floor since opening the sixth level only requires clearing four levels, and clearing the sixth level unlocks the next floor.
Really, the final level of each floor will be the one you look forward to most. Each one is a chase sequence where Scan-It Janet causes mayhem and Chip must outrun lava and destruction. I’ve always had a soft spot for chase levels in games and in Get-A-Grip Chip these are the levels that provide the most challenge. They were the only time I felt like precision platforming was essential too, with the rest of the game’s difficulty mainly coming from impatience. In these chases it is essential not to mess up.
I’d recommend Get-A-Grip Chip to anyone who is either new to platformers, or if they are looking for a more casual game for a younger member of their family. If you’re a fan of more hardcore platformers, then you might want to look elsewhere.
Achievement hunters might also want to give this game a pass. While it isn’t the hardest game to achieve 1000 Xbox Gamerscore in, it would be a tedious process to go through and collect every bot. This tedium is really what bothered me most in fact; making it from point A to B is never very difficult and the only other goal focuses on collecting bots. It feels oddly grindy for a platformer game.
There’s no doubt that Get-A-Grip Chip is very polished. The graphics are clean, the areas and levels are themed appropriately and follow a consistent design scheme, and I didn’t encounter any bugs. Playing through it takes a couple of hours, yet should you wish to 100% everything that is available, my best guess would be that it’d take five or six hours to nail. There is also a leaderboard for each level that shows the top times for clearing each one, so if you feel like competing with others for a top spot, it’s always an option.
In all, Get-A-Grip Chip is a fine game, but it’s just not the game for me.
Get-A-Grip Chip is available from the Xbox Store
