Glover
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 Save the World... Singlehanded!
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Glover is a 3D platform game developed by Interactive Studios (later went under the name of Blitz Games) and published by Hasbro Interactive in 1998 for the Nintendo 64 and PC, and in 1999 for the PlayStation under the Atari Interactive banner.
Plot
A wizard rules a kingdom through his castle. He makes potions with the help of 2 magical gloves. One day, he mixes the wrong potions, making the gloves fly off, one flying out the window and the other into the potion, this also turns the wizard into a statue. The glove that fell out the window is named Glover, and after finding out the green crystals started to fall, he turns them into bouncy balls and all of them land in the different worlds. The other glove in the potion, was Glover's brother, turned into an evil glove named Cross-Stitch, and he wants to stop Glover.
Why It Saves The World (Singlehanded)
- Unique levels require the usage of the different forms of balls that Glover can use. The game essentially tests the player's patience in a good way, and forces them to plan out their moves in advance rather than using brute skill to clear every level which provides great amount of challenge.
- The balls can turn into four different forms thanks to Glover being magical. Each one has well-balanced advantages and disadvantages depending on their physics.
- Bouncy Ball: The standard ball that Glover can use. Glover can dribble the ball to allow it to gain momentum and also use it to float on water, though there are instances where giving it too much momentum can cause it to fall off certain ledges.
- Bowling Ball: This ball can destroy some barriers, but cannot be dribbled due to its weight.
- Ball Bearing: This ball is the smallest and fastest of the four, but it doesn't gain height when dribbling it.
- Crystal: The original form of the ball that is too fragile even to dribble, but can rack up double the points, allowing the player to collect lives more easily.
- Good graphics, since they are very colorful and detailled for the time, the environments are also well designed and look great
- The soundtrack is nice to listen to.
- Good sound effects.
- Glover is a unique and cute character himself, being a plain old glove, who is somehow magical.
- His character design specifically is adorable to look at.
- Tons of cheat codes. While most of them are impractical, they at least make for good comedy.
- Lots of funny moments such as: The aformentioned cheat codes, the intro after showing off the introduction of Glover getting hit by a ball, the bird at the hub world making fart and burp noises, etc.
- The animations are nothing short of cute and adorable, most notably the idle animations where Glover would wave at the screen, or tapping his fingers, the animation for Glover pushing large obstacles as an actual hand, along with the animation where walking close to a ledge, Glover would sit down near it.
- Decent and unique controls that are original in a way, and also, they are tight and responsive too, even though sometime jumping with the ball is hard.
- Fun and unique gameplay.
- Good soundtrack that fit the tone of the game, the PC version has more remixed music, which sounds just as good.
- Glover's voice is interesting and cute to listen to, despite not really taking.
- His transformation sounds specifically is adorable.
Yucky Qualities
- The game might seem to be repetitive considering the gameplay is pretty simple for example.
- Paper thin plot. It's not clear what Cross-Stitch is trying to accomplish.
- The boss fights are a bit too easy.
- Glover's scream when the Ball is destroyed can be annoying at times.
- Some levels can be very hard and frustrating and some platforms are require a perfect timing to land on, which is very tedious to do so, especially if you aren't used to the controls sheme of the game.
- The PlayStation version is really bad compared to the Nintendo 64, as it had downgraded graphics, stiff controls and is sometimes way too easy.
- The Piko Interactive re-release is somehow even worse.
- The 1998 PC version suffers from lots of technical issues most notably stuttering on modern hardware and having scanlines for the cutscenes.
Trivia
- A sequel, titled Glover 2, was supposed to be released in mid-1999 for the Nintendo 64, PlayStation and the Dreamcast, but was canceled when the game was 60% complete. Despite this, an earlier prototype can be downloaded here, while the later one can be downloaded here.
- In 2018, an indie studio by the name of Golden Mushroom claimed that it would be working on a sequel for Glover for the Nintendo Switch. In reality, however, they applied for the trademark for but not the copyright. Those rights were in fact purchased by Piko Interactive, who had purchased the copyright for Glover from Atari SA.
- Because of all of this, Glover's sequel is currently in an unknown state, and it is not known if it will be actually made eventually for modern platforms.
- In 2018, an indie studio by the name of Golden Mushroom claimed that it would be working on a sequel for Glover for the Nintendo Switch. In reality, however, they applied for the trademark for but not the copyright. Those rights were in fact purchased by Piko Interactive, who had purchased the copyright for Glover from Atari SA.
Reception
For the Nintendo 64 version, Glover received generally positive reviews by critics. Paul Hales of PC Zone gave it a 67% stating, "It's all good, clean, harmless fun in reasonably 3D rendered landscapes." Edge magazine gave the game a 7 out of 10 stating it wasn't all that original but also stated that the game provides regular surprises that make it an entertaining game.
On the other hand, the PlayStation version was heavily panned by critics. PC Zone gave the game 56% stating, "There's no denying Glover is bizarre, but at the same its not particularly interesting. The standard trudge through obligatory ice world, water world and space world, flicking switches as you go, hardly constitutes as enthralling gameplay.