Cute puzzler that when it works is quite addictive. Stress WHEN.
Here’s a little Nintendo DS number that was quite the industry darling, some heavy flaws are keeping it from keeping that status though. I wanna give it a 10 for it’s concept, but I gotta go with a 7 for the final execution.
The Good – Cute puzzler on the DS, when it works is quite addictive. Here’s the selling point, type in a word, as long as it’s not a copyright, vulgar or whatever, and bam, it shows up on the screen. Type in ‘low rider’, poof, there it is…..’minotaur’, there’s a monster….’god’…well, you get the idea. There are a ton of puzzles that range from simple, eg. kids are trick or treating, type in ‘candy’ and give it to them, you’ve beaten puzzle. Then there’s the ridiculously complex ones that involve doors, levers, etc….I won’t even try to describe the scenarios because they don’t make much sense. But it’s alot of fun…again, when things work. It’s a pretty amazing concept.
The Bad – Aww man, here we go….controls baby, when you get to the tough puzzles, they’re beyond weak. The stylus is used to move your character, type in the names of what you wanna use, drag and drop said items, etc. Now let that sink in, think of the small DS screens and all the troubles and conflicts that can arise, which do happen. Why they couldn’t just program the d-pad for movement like every other 2D game is beyond me. Your little guy is clumsy and sometimes just knocks over things you put in place when you click/drag for movement(he also auto jumps,blah), or you’ll click on the wrong thing, or….it…just…sucks. While I’ve spent a lot of time with the game and had a ton of fun, the harder the puzzles, the more pronounced these flaws become, which is a shame, this game deserves better.
The Ugly – The fact that this game probably won’t get the classic status that it should have cuz of it’s flaws. It’s been mentioned that it might come to other platforms, I’d love to see this on 360/PS3/PC, where I can use a keyboard for typing and a controller to move my guy and have precise movement…..I would give that a 10.
