Microsoft's Freebie: Worth the Price
Tinker was originally bundled with the "Ultimate" edition of Windows Vista, and it shows. For some reason, Microsoft continues to insist on bundling games with Windows that make PCs look exactly like the bumbling computing machines they were when 3.1 was released. Tinker, an isometric-view shove-some-blocks-around puzzle game, would be right at home alongside earlier bundled games like 3D Pinball: Space Cadet and Minesweeper.
From the first second, it's evident that Tinker seems to just be a vehicle for Microsoft to make sure that their Live experience works the way they want it to. There are 15 achievements, two of which I had a quarter of the way through the 20-level-long Tutorial Set of puzzles. Three quarters of the way through that same set I was already staring at the clock in the system tray, wondering how much longer they would go on.
Tinker puzzle boards are stocked with pretty standard items. Switches make some doors go up and down, some laser beam things melt ice cubes, magnets attract unpushable metal blocks. The art is pretty terrible for the most part, aside from a very detailed - and completely out of place - complex set of gears on the side of the tiny (7x7) platform of the playing field. The backgrounds are nice, in a calming, wallpaper sort of way, as is the music.
The challenge in Tinker seems primarily due to the fact that you can't really see anything you're pushing around. The tutorial tells you to rotate the field, so you press the button, and all the tiles fade out, fading in again in the new orientation. There is no actual rotating going on. In complex levels this can be frustrating as you flip back and forth between rotations to try and see where things are in relation to each other, and maddeningly, this seems to be by design, as the ice cube blocks are also translucent, making it a huge pain in the ass to figure out what level they're standing on, if there are a lot of ice cubes on the board.
All in all, I would probably have preferred hitting myself with a wrench than tinkering with this pile of junk. I have no idea what corporate drone decided this was a good game, or this would be worthwhile to give away on their new Games on Demand service - what better opportunity to attract interest in their new service than launching it with a great, addictive puzzler? - but no one involved seems to have any idea what makes a good game. Play Minesweeper instead.