After Leo Faria posted his review of Glover a while back, I was a bit shocked. To be honest, I had read retrospectives and lists of the best and worst Nintendo 64 games of yesteryear, and I had tried to be open about the different perspectives and concepts. Additionally, I tried to be more skeptical of the overall skewing of titles that came about because nostalgia is a massive factor. We can all wax poetic about how great Mario Kart 64 was, but that was also “at the time,” and it’s inarguable that better versions of the formula have been released. In that same vein, Quest 64 has actually aged and improved because of understanding the core audience and target, plus what the game was able to accomplish. If you came expecting Final Fantasy VI, you’d be bitterly disappointed: if you wanted Mystic Quest, then you were in good company.

So Glover is one that, admittedly, I was enthused about due to my history with the console. I didn’t own a Nintendo 64, but my friends did. I got to play in snapshots when I went to friend’s houses, which meant that I didn’t get as invested in certain titles like other folk may have. Sure, I was aware of Ocarina of Time and Mario 64, and I even got to play it a bit when I begged for a chance. Most of my play, though, was multiplayer adventures, like Goldeneye and the aforementioned kart racer. But Glover was also on my radar since it was the last name of my friend. It was a grand joke in their household, and the silliness of the game, coupled with inside jokes and being able to name your save file from the start, made it a warm, if fuzzy, memory.

Picking it up and playing it on my Switch should have been a rush of excitement and joy at getting back to something that was attached to my teenage years. I remembered the bones: magical glove has to get a bunch of balls to save a wizard and defeat an evil gauntlet. The balls could be magicked into different forms, but you had to be careful because both the main character and the ball itself could be destroyed, so there were not one but two ways to perish. It was and is a 3D title in a period where moving in three dimensions was tenuous at best, so I fully expected to have a bit of a time getting back into the swing of things.

What I hadn’t anticipated was just how poorly the concept had aged. Glover has every hallmark of a game manufactured for children, targeting parents and creating “replay value” through the most insidious approaches imaginable. First and foremost, the camera itself. You are constantly beset by enemies and obstacles that come from every angle, but the ability to fine tune the camera perspective is hampered by the constraints of the level itself. Nearly every stage gives you a moment where you’re locked in on two sides by walls or the lack thereof, and then you can’t do anything but try and maneuver your character without fully knowing where you’re going. It’s a real blind chance situation, and it seriously happened every single stage.

Secondly, you need to be ready for the controls to change at the drop of a hat. The glove character walks normally in some cases, but jumping on top of the ball to get it across water (and it does sometimes makes it move faster across normal terrain) means quickly changing to log rolling rules, or walking in the opposite direction from where you’d ideally like to go. When you need to move the ball through a throwing or slapping action, it takes a beat before the trajectory arrow appears, which potentially leads to launching the ball before really knowing where it’ll land due to enemies bearing down on you. Let me be clear that these control concepts aren’t impossible or even difficult to grasp, but they are executed with an almost malicious taint that clearly is meant to hamper kids trying their best.

Like most 3D platformers, Glover insists that you try to collect Garibs (shiny star cards) each and every level, which means either feeling like you’re half-assing the experience in favor of “finishing the damn thing” or tripling your stage time attempting to reach awkwardly placed collectibles that really can only be obtained under just the right conditions. Even from the very first stage, if you’re not perfectly comfortable with the angle of throwing the ball so that it can a.) hit the apex and snag the last card and b.) not shatter into a million pieces upon landing, then you’re a terrible player. Plus, failure to get all the sparkly doodads each level means you don’t unlock the secret stage, and, without even more places to get frustrated at the game, what does life even mean anymore?

But, getting over my own inferiority about a game that I used to be decent at close to three decades ago, there is some clear execution and cleverness to Glover. The rhythm comes after a single loss in a stage: though I doubt this is on purpose, being able to fail and try again gives you insight into how to best approach things. For example, the first boss fight wasn’t clear in any way, but my death at the hands of a tower of seafood lead me to the revelation on how to better deconstruct their attacks and patterns. It’s not a requirement, but being able to eat dirt first then let me enter a better headspace for when things wanted to work out.

The gameplay is fascinatingly varied as well, and I have to give credit where credit is due. The multiple forms of the ball give reason to experiment with how to best reach the Garibs, as well as navigate the level. When the rhythm is revealed, it’s rather genius how you can transition from bouncing the ball to shooting it to reach a higher location, separating from your ball to go slap things to unlock areas, and then finding a moment to transition from ball bearing to bowling ball to best break down walls or stun enemies.  These are the moments when I can see the framework of the game reveal itself, and it makes it more obvious how Glover got the greenlight. As an aside, I think having a controller that’s setup like the N64 trident is the most beneficial as well, and modern layouts might be a tad backwards.

Additionally, I do really enjoy the concept that’s trying to be conveyed. While the Oliver Twins would eventually move on to do mostly tv and cartoon tie-in games, there’s something original about Glover that lends itself to an indie prestige in spite of releasing at a time where indies really didn’t make console splashes. The entire setup is so wonderfully hokey – a wizard named Wizard and some chaotic magic that leads to inexplicable transformations – is charming, and the rough graphics of it all really keeps you in that whimsical mindset even as you have to deal with a diverse cast of monsters and traps. Coupled with a jaunty soundtrack and a tough if forgiving system of how you deal with running out of lives, and it’s a fairly enjoyable pattern of abuse.

But this is where there is a bit of a ball drop from Qubyte, the publisher. There’s no QOL upgrades under the hood of Glover, and that seems like a missed opportunity to take a mediocre experience and make it a wonderful one. The animation is still a tad janky, and the camera is nauseatingly difficult to contend with. The ability to do some fairly expected things for these older titles – save state, rewind – are not present, which is a double edged sword of preservation of the original experience and shaming people who want a little assistance. There’s just not enough popping here to make it a worthwhile purchase for the target market: people who really liked the N64 version and want to have it on modern hardware.

Glover isn’t particularly long, and most of the challenge comes from the handling of the game itself. If you’re really into 3D platformers, especially ones that are experimental in controls and execution, then you might find some investable enjoyment from this not-exactly-beloved title. If you were hoping for something that worked in the same field that Mario 64 was able to operate in, you’ve got to keep shopping. This glove doesn’t fit, so we all have to quit.

Graphics: 6.5 Probably the most apparent change to the remaster, the graphics have been polished up a bit to give Glover a brighter sheen and not as rough edges, but still preserving the original concept. The result lends some sprites to look cleaner and better, while others are arguably worse. The overall result is an improvement, but not a massive one.	Gameplay: 4.5 There are a lot of balls to keep in the air (pun intended) as it is in regards to control, survival and swapping modes to progress. When you take into account the sudden inversing of directions and the obstinate camera, it turns into a found footage level of gaming that frankly put me on my back (literally) after fifteen minute play sessions.
Sound: 7.0 A really solid score with some surprisingly robust explorations in sound and musical temperature. I was expecting something a bit more kiddy, but Glover really delivered an enjoyable soundtrack from start to finish.	Fun Factor: 5.0 If I hadn’t played this as a kid, I doubt I would have picked it up again today, and I’m beginning to wonder if I should have. I appreciate the port, I applaud the effort, but I absolutely will not be playing it again. I’ll keep the rest of my nostalgia intact, thanks.
Final Verdict: 5.5

Glover is available now on PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4/5, and Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.

Reviewed on Nintendo Switch.

A copy of Glover was provided by the publisher.