I don't know about you, but I always get unnerved at the death of tiny cute anthropomorphic things. Most people can rationalize "that's a banana getting grinded up into bits," but when you hear their screams and see blood splattering across the screen, it's a little different. Thankfully the point of Don't Grind [Free] is to save these little creatures, but as most endless games prove, death is inevitable. Maybe that's why it makes me so uncomfortable.
I was initially drawn to Don't Grind due to a community recommendation, but the artwork immediately pulled me toward it. It looks like something out of Tokidoki, but the team over at Laser Dog Games put their own spin on it, and created a likable cast of characters that consist of basic household items and food -- like toasters, apples, milkshakes, and of course, bananas.
The loop is like a truncated version of Super Meat Boy. There's no platforming involved per se, your job is to just tap the screen and prevent the character of your choosing from falling into giant buzzsaws at the bottom. By tapping the screen plainly you can manipulate your height, and by swiping, you can move your object from side to side. Think of tapping like juggling a soccer ball by yourself -- it'll give the object a slight upward kick, but the operative word here is "slight," as you'll need to stay on top of it to keep it airborne.
It gets even tougher once you add in enemies and hazards to the mix, like more buzzsaws that can a...