This is the one hundred fifty-seventh entry in the Scratching That Itch series, wherein I randomly select and write about one of the 1741 games and game-related things included in the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality. The Bundle raised $8,149,829.66 split evenly between the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and Community Bail Fund, but don’t worry if you missed it. There are plenty of ways you can help support the vital cause of racial justice; try here for a start. Lastly, as always, you may click on images to view larger versions.

Our one hundred fifty-seventh random selection from the itch.io Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality in spinning uncontrollably. It’s Barrel Roll, by mattlawr, and its tagline in the bundle reads:

Fly back home with damaged wings

That’s… surprisingly poetic.

Barrel Roll was made in 48 hours for the VGDC Spring Game Jam 2020, which had the theme of “restricted movement”. It’s playable in a browser directly from the itch.io page, or as a separate download, which is what I used. It puts players in control of a jet plane above a simple 3D landscape, but this plane is not working properly. It is stuck in a neverending barrel roll, unable to steer normally. Players can only pull up, and fire thrusters to temporarily stabilize the roll. That’s it. Figure out how to fly to the finish line. Good luck.

At first, Barrel Roll is impossibly confusing. There’s a brief on-screen set of instructions, but upon hitting the Shift key (or Z) to start, the plane immediately starts rolling, the camera spinning around with it. I tried pulling up (done with Shift or Z) and was immediatley disoriented, with no idea where I was pointing, or which way was up. Soon I was crashing into the ground, which somehow didn’t destroy the plane, but did quickly deplete its fuel until I had to restart the level.

But I slowly got the hang of it. Holding the spacebar will fire the thrusters, accelerating the plane forwards while also stopping the endless barrel roll as long as it’s held. But since the plane can only pull up, I needed to release the thrusters and start rolling again in order to change my flight direction. It took me a few tries to realize that each time I engaged the thrusters with the space bar, it reversed the direction of the barrel roll (indicated visually with an icon next to the plane). So by careful application of the thrusters, I could roll the plane and then pull up in order to steer. The mouse can also move the camera to look behind the plane, but I found this too disorienting and rarely used it.

I probably should have, though, since the biggest challenge was figuring out where to go. There are giant fuel cans to fly through which restore some fuel, and often they lead the way to the finish line like a bread crumb trail, but with so much spinning going on I usually found myself facing in the wrong direction and unsure where to turn. An on-screen arrow points to the nearest fuel can (but maybe only when close enough?) yet even this was hard to follow sometimes. Still, going from hopeless flailing to something resembling control as I spun and swooped around was pleasing. There are three stages in the game, and by the time I finished the last one I felt I’d almost figured out how to fly this busted plane.

Barrel Roll records players’ times on each stage, so there’s some incentive to go back and try earlier stages again. I could imagine getting better at it with repeated attempts, and even eventually chasing some record times, although I did not stick with it long enough. But for a simple, experimental idea, Barrel Roll is surprisingly engaging. The levels are more interesting than I expected, with some surprising paths to take and obstacles to weave between. And I like the retro 3D look, it reminds me of the kind of thing I might have found on a demo disc back before the omnipresence of the internet. Best of all, Barrel Roll is offered completely free, without even the option to pay, so even if you missed the bundle you can try it out. It will only take a few minutes if you just try each stage once, but you might find yourself replaying a few. Worth a look, if wrangling an uncooperative plane sounds interesting.

That’s 157 down, and only 1584 to go!