Glover

What if the hero of a platformer weren't a brave adventurer or a cute animal, but an ordinary magic glove? Glover bet on exactly this bizarre idea and became one of the most distinctive, if slightly forgotten, 3D platformers of the Nintendo 64 era. Instead of jumping, you control a five-fingered glove whose task is to guide a fragile ball through a dangerous world to the finish.

The game was developed by the British studio Interactive Studios and published by Hasbro Interactive in the late nineties. Glover arrived at a time when 3D platformers were still finding their shape, and it boldly set itself apart from the competition led by Super Mario 64. The whole plot rests on the shattering of magic crystals, which turned into balls, and your task is to carefully bring each of them home.

What's truly unique is the mechanic built around the ball. Glover can bounce it, roll it, bat it or transform it into various materials, from a springy rubber one to a heavy bowling ball. Each surface reacts differently, so the game is half platformer and half logic puzzle, where you have to think about how to safely guide your fragile companion past traps. This dual nature made Glover a title that demanded patience and inventiveness at the same time.

The camera work and the sometimes merciless ball controls were simultaneously the game's biggest weakness, which contemporary reviews also complained about. Even so, Glover earned a decent reception thanks to its originality, and versions for the PlayStation and PC also appeared. A planned sequel never made it to sale, but its prototype resurfaced years later in the collector community and became a small legend.

Today Glover is exactly the kind of game that reminds us how boldly the early 3D era experimented. In 2019 it moreover received a modern release on current platforms, proving that its quirky idea of a glove and a ball still has its supporters. It's an imperfect but unmistakable piece of console history.

Why play: For the utterly original idea of controlling a magic glove and a fragile ball, unlike anything any other platformer offered.