NoomiClone

Review by eFreeware

NoomiClone is a free physics game from the solo developer behind the NoomiClone Dev label, built in Unity around a ragdoll gymnast you steer through bar swings, flips and parkour lines. It has been out since December 2020 and has passed five million installs, with a 4.3 average from more than 16,000 ratings. The reason to consider it is simple: it takes the loose, funny feel of ragdoll physics and points it at gymnastics and calisthenics rather than crashes or fights.

That focus shapes everything. You are not steering a character around a world; you are timing individual moves so that momentum and spin carry you into the next one. The developer describes it as a playground for gymnastics, calisthenics and parkour tricks, and the two modes split those interests cleanly. If you like the idea of a game where a backflip is a small skill you practice rather than a button you press, this is the sort of thing that rewards patience.

A gym, a city and a park to swing through

Bar mode holds 12 maps, and the names suggest a spread of settings: Classic and Trampoline at one end, City and Workout Park at the other. The idea is that you swing, let go and regrab, either the way a gymnast works a bar routine or the way a calisthenics athlete moves between holds. A trampoline map and a city map are asking for different timing, so the mode is not one routine repeated twelve times.

Tumbling mode has 6 maps and shifts to the floor, with boxes, ramps, platforms and moving blocks arranged for flips, twists and parkour lines. Where Bar mode is about catching something on the way down, this is about reading a route and committing to it. Between the two, the game covers the two halves of the discipline: apparatus work and ground work.

One move at a time, with physics doing the rest

The control scheme is the premise: Noomi is a ragdoll you steer one move at a time. The move list covers tuck, pike, arch, layout and squat positions, rotation each way, flash kicks, held landings and bar regrabs. Because momentum and spin carry through from one move to the next, the same input at a different moment produces a different result, which is where the variety comes from.

In practice, a run reads as a chain of small decisions. You leave a bar, choose a shape in the air, and either catch the next bar or land it; in Tumbling you pick a line over the blocks and try to hold it to the end. Slow motion is there for the timing, which suggests the developer expects players to use it while learning a sequence rather than only as a novelty. The appeal rests on getting the timing right yourself.

There is also a practical layer for people who dislike default touch layouts: every button can be moved and resized. That matters more in a game built on precise timing than it would elsewhere, since the placement of your thumbs is part of the skill. It is a small feature in theory, but it is the kind of thing that decides whether a physics game feels fair.

Replays, skins and reasons to go again

Replays are the main draw for repeat runs. That turns a good run into something you can keep, share or study, and it gives the game a second life as a record of your own progress rather than a scoreboard.

Skins give the other incentive. They can be earned with regrabs or bought with NoomiCoins, so there are two routes to the same cosmetic result. The developer also added an optional sign-in that backs up your progress, which keeps regrabs, NoomiCoins and skins on any phone if you choose to use it. A High Frame Rate setting targets 90 and 120 Hz displays, and 17 languages are supported.

The developer is a solo creator working in Unity and asks for reviews so that feedback can shape updates. That is a familiar pitch from small studios, but it is consistent with the way the game has been maintained, including the recent language additions and the steadier frame pacing mentioned in the latest notes.

What it costs and what comes with it

NoomiClone is free to install and carries ads, with in-app purchases available alongside them. NoomiCoins are the in-game currency tied to skins, and buying skins is one of the two ways to get them, so spending is one path rather than the only one. The sign-in for backing up progress is described as optional.

I would treat the ads and the coin purchases as part of the deal rather than something to work around. For a game with no entry price and a large install base, that is a normal arrangement, and the fact that skins can also come from regrabs gives you something to work toward without paying. Whether the balance suits you depends on how much you mind interruptions between runs.

A physics toy for players who like practicing tricks

The clearest audience here is someone who enjoys skill-based physics games. The loop is personal: learn a move, chain it, save the replay. If you have ever spent an evening trying to land one clean backflip in a physics sandbox, the structure of 12 bar maps and 6 tumbling maps gives that instinct somewhere to go.

Gymnastics and calisthenics fans are the other obvious group, since the move vocabulary is drawn from those sports rather than invented. The slow motion and the replay scrubbing both point toward players who want to examine what went wrong. It is a game about repetition, and it asks you to find that repetition satisfying.

It is less obviously suited to anyone who wants a guided progression or a competitive structure. The ragdoll control scheme also means the learning curve is real: momentum carries, so early attempts will be messy. That is the point of the genre, but it is worth knowing what you are signing up for.

My recommendation after weighing it up

NoomiClone looks like a well-scoped physics game with a clear identity: ragdoll gymnastics and parkour, one move at a time, with replays to keep you honest. The 18 maps across two modes, the move list and the replay tools give it more substance than a one-trick physics toy, and the control customization and high frame rate option suggest the developer has thought about how it feels to play on a phone.

The trade-offs are straightforward. It is free with ads and in-app purchases, and it leans on your willingness to practice timing. For players who like tinkering, chasing a clean landing and saving the result, that is a fair exchange. This is built around something else.

I would recommend it to anyone curious about ragdoll physics applied to gymnastics and parkour, and to players who already enjoy skill games where progress is measured in your own saved runs. Install it expecting to fail a lot at first, and expect the satisfaction to come from the run you finally land.

What's new in version 2.3.3

• NEW: Back up your progress! Sign in under Settings > Account to keep your regrabs, NoomiCoins and skins on any phone. • 10 new languages (pick yours with the flag button), and better gymnastics terms in every language. • Smoother motion: steadier frame pacing, and a High Frame Rate option (Settings > General) on 90/120 Hz screens. • Saved replays now go to the same NoomiClone album as your older recordings. • Bug fixes and improvements.