Destroy all Bobteds

November 27, 2007 No Comments
The Day of the Bobteds
10
  • Type: Physics Puzzler
  • Difficulty: Easy-Medium
  • Replay Value: Progressive
  • Controls: Mouse
Object: Destroy the Bobteds, in whatever form they appear, with your bouncing balls.

Review: This charming progressive puzzler has all the charm of the popular Hoshi Saga Puzzles. In this series of 18 short puzzle levels, your simply have to destroy the Bobteds on each screen. The Bobteds take on different forms in each level, from water towers to stars to percentage symbols and other objects. Each level has a slightly different technique you must employ to get rid of all the Bobteds, but all of them involve dropping one or more silver pinball balls onto the course so that they bounce onto the Bobteds.

Sometimes you have only one ball to drop. When you drop it, it bounces or causes objects to move which help destroy the Bobteds. Whenever you have more than one ball to drop, you will place each of them somewhere on the course and all balls will drop at the same time after you’ve placed the last one. Many times you need to set the balls at various heights and locations so that they will interact with each other. If you time a ball to bounce and then bounce another ball off of it, it will arc just right to wipe out all the Bobteds. Most levels have pretty easy solutions, but some require a little playing around with first to discover ways to accomplish your task. I had a particularly difficult time with level 16.

All levels in this game have a visually appealing design, using simple pastel graphics and various objects you can bounce off of, turn or maneuver to help you out. The design of this game shows a lot of inventiveness. The game plays just once through progressively. Once you’ve solved all the puzzles, you’ve finished playing the game, but as quickly as most players will be able to make it through, they will also enjoy the fun and cool factor this game provides.




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World of Black & White - Yin-Yang Review

September 22, 2007 No Comments
Yin-Yang
10
  • Type: Progressive Puzzler
  • Difficulty: Medium-Difficult
  • Replay Value: Progressive
  • Controls: Keys
Object: Get the black yin character and the white yang character to their respective flags.
Review: This game is truly unique. I haven’t seen a game quite like this before. The concept comes from the ancient Chinese yin-yang symbol–a circle (representing the whole) divided into two black and white halves (representing the male and female principals–yin and yang). In this game of black and white, you control two characters named Yin and Yang. Each character lives in his own half of the world. Yin, the black character, lives in all the white areas of the screen and Yang, the white character, lives in all the black areas of the screen. You flip back and forth between the two characters using the space bar.

The uniqueness doesn’t stop there. Each character can modify the world of the opposite in interesting ways. For instance if Yang drags a white box (using the ctrl/cmmd button) and places it adjacent to a black area, Yin can walk through that white box as if it were empty space. In some levels a floating box will move back and forth. For one of the characters this box is a platform to stand on, for the other it becomes a moving tunnel to stand inside. You will notice in the first level, that one character must move a box to create a passageway for the other character to reach a different section. The two characters must work together to accomplish their goals and yet they never get to meet each other in the same world.

There are also an assortment of animals, from worms to fat birds to piggies, who all get in the way. Because of this, you must continually check-up on the opposite character so they are out of harm’s way while waiting for the other character to move around. Sometimes the characters need to switch back and forth many times to avoid obstacles or send help to the other world.

Additionally, some levels include gravity switchers. These arrow buttons will flip gravity upside down for one of the characters only. All animals, boxes and characters will turn upside down. So often Yin and Yang are facing opposite directions from each other, which adds a whole new dynamic to the game. The game is full of pitfalls, spikes and other obstacles. You will often find one of your character falling into a pit too deep to get out of or unable to climb over an obstacle. Sometimes the opposite character can help them out of this situation, but often you will have to restart the level and try again.

The soundtrack is a spunky little ditty and the characters each announce their name when you switch between them. I sometimes found myself accidentally switching characters when I wanted to drag a box, because the simple controls actually take a little getting used to. But the concept and refreshingly creative puzzles really make this game shine. Your progress is automatically saved when you play, so you can casually take each puzzle level without fear of losing your progress. This is a blessing on some of the truly difficult levels. Nitrome Games in conjunction with MTV Arcade have produced this amazingly fun and clever game sure to please all puzzler lovers.



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Ramps - Game Review

September 17, 2007 3 Comments
Ramps
9
  • Type: Physics Puzzler
  • Difficulty: Moderate
  • Replay Value: Progressive
  • Controls: Mouse
Object: Using a series of moveable ramps, guide a ball into the bucket.
Review: Designer Tyler Sticka has created a very elegant physics-based game. Each level you are given a few ramps, which you can move and angle. You must position the ramps in such a way that when you drop the ball from the tube at the top of the screen it rolls down the ramps and falls in the bucket at the bottom. If it falls into the lava or gets sucked up by one of the many obstacles in the game, you have to try again until you get things just right.

The implementation of physics in this game feels very smooth. The ball seems to roll just as you expect it would. Sometimes the ramps you are given are very tiny and hardly enough to move the ball across the screen. But if you experiment with placing the ramps lower so the ball bounces or angling them more severely so you get momentum on a roll, you will discover that there are many ways to make the ball hit its target.

Later in the game, you will have to work around obstacles, such as immovable platforms, ball-sucking vacuum holes and hungry piranhas which eat your ball. The joy in playing this game is that there are often many different ways to arrange the ramps to get the ball in the bucket. When a ball falls off course, sometimes making very minor adjustments to the angles or placement will successfully alter the course.

The game has many challenging levels and its simple clean graphics and responsive controls will keep you playing for hours.



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