Machinarium

Machinarium is a quaint little indie game that came out last year to relatively high praise. The folks over at Game-Central.org were huge fans, even going so far as to make it a top contender for Game of the Year for 2009. Because of all the good things I had heard about the game, I was pretty excited play it and also had relatively high expectations for it. I picked up as part of a six-game indie bundle for a mere $20. While the game is undoubtedly brilliant, it didn't quite live up to my expectations.

For any of you not familiar, the game is a classic point-and-click style adventure game featuring inventory (with item combinations) and other similar adventure game trappings. The main character is a spunky little robot who has the ability to make himself taller and shorter and store items... by eating them.

Loved

• Music. The music in Machinarium is absolutely amazing. If you are into video game music at all (I'm really not, but still enjoyed it), you will be blown away by the music here. I absolutely can't think of any game that had better music. It's so good, I know of people who paid pretty high fees to buy vinyl soundtracks from overseas. It really is that good.
  
  
• Art. Everything in Machinarium was hand-drawn and then rendered frame by frame in Photoshop. The game is just beautiful to look at and all the animations are beautiful. It's the kind of game where you could take a screen shot at pretty much any time and set it as your wallpaper.
  
  
• Puzzles. I loved the puzzle variety in this game. There were mini-game style puzzles (even a full Space Invaders game!), as well as more traditional adventure game style puzzles like listening to a radio and then playing the same tune back into a miniature piano like device. None of the puzzles in this game felt awkward or contrived to me; I never once had to use a rubber chicken as a pulley (Fate of Atlantis I'm looking at you) or anything like that.
  
  
• Narrative style. I was a little torn by this, but in the end I really liked it. Instead of using either written or spoken dialog, all the robots communicate in the game using pictures. In one area, I saw a sad wrench shaped robot. I "told" him that I wanted to use him to unscrew a large cap and he "told" me about how his record player was stolen and that he was sad. I was able to figure out exactly what he wanted me to do without the use of any words whatsoever. It worked surprisingly well and by the end of the game it had really grown on me.
  
  
• Hint system. The way they implemented their hint and walkthrough system felt so brilliant to me, I want other people to steal it. For every screen, you can press the hint button and your little protagonist robot will "think" of what the overall goal of the area is. His thought bubble gives you a valuable clue in what you are trying to accomplish without really spoiling anything for you. I thought that it worked so well, I found myself using it on pretty much every screen just to see what it would show. In addition, the game features a full walkthrough built into the game. To access the walkthrough, however, you are forced to play through another mini game in which you guide a bullet shooting key to a lock. Once the walkthrough book is open, it uses beautiful images to show you what you should be doing. (Just as a side note: I was able to quite easily finish the game without using the walkthrough, but I did use the hint system quite liberally.)
  

Hated

• It's a Flash game. Machinarium was made in Flash and plays in a wrapped Flash viewer. There is no reason that this game couldn't have been a web game. While some would think this a minor complaint, it bothered me more than I thought it would. One of the big problems with Flash is that the right mouse button doesn't do anything but bring up a right click menu to tell me about Flash. Also, when the game was in full screen mode, it was surrounded by blackness (admittedly not necessarily a Flash issue), however it was very annoying as lots of the areas were very dark and it made it almost impossible to see where the "screen" ended and the blackness began. That wouldn't have been much of an issue, but the only way to access the inventory was to mouse over the hotspot at the top of the "screen," click the item, try to use it, then drag it back to the hotspot and click to put it back. I would have loved to be able to put items back by pressing escape or right mouse clicking (I tried it do it throughout the entire game), but alas, the limitations of their development environment didn't allow it.
  
  
• Length. I absolutely don't feel like all games need to be really long; in fact, I've found myself enjoying shorter games more and more. However, Machinarium felt too short too me. The game doesn't take more than a few hours tops (unless you you fail at puzzles) and left me wanting more, but not in a good way. For how sprawling the city looking to be, it felt downright microscopic. Additionally, the game featured almost no back tracking, which could be good depending on how you look at it, but for the most part just made the game feel smaller and shorter.
  

Machinarium really is a good game. I would easily recommend it to anybody who loves adventure games and even to people who don't normally games. It has a charm that few games have. While I definitely had some complaints with a couple of things, I liked what I played. Hopefully this just means we'll see more similar games from this team.

Zombie Driver

During the delicious Steam sales that occurred at Thanksgiving and Christmas, I snagged Zombie Driver for a paltry $2.50. As it turns out, that was about how much this short but simple game was worth.

Zombie Driver is a mix between Crazy Taxi, Left 4 Dead, and GTA 2. The game is viewed in the top down style of GTA 2 and has you control your car with either the keyboard or a gamepad (I tried both and they each worked fine). With your mouse, you can control the camera and shoot your weapon.

The gameplay is relatively basic, you are tasked with driving to a handful of locations, clearing the zombies out that have taken up residence, and then transporting the survivors inside back to the base. Along the way, expect to run into piles upon piles of zombies. Most merely swarm your car, some throw toxic barrels at you, and the nastiest explode when you get close causing massive damage to your car.

To kill (re-kill?) said zombies, you can either shoot them with one of the various weapons you can obtain or you can merely run them over. The weapons themselves were definitely my least favorite part of the entire game. While the weapon variety was actually pretty decent (machine gun, rocket launcher, flamethrower, and rail gun), just about everything else about the weapons was not.

First of all, the game is VERY stingy with ammo. After picking up a weapon, it's possible to burn through all of the ammo just clearing out the first group of zombies you run across. I'm not kidding; you get 5-7 rockets/rail slugs and perhaps 5-10 seconds worth of continuous machine gun/flamethrower fire per pickup. What that means is that I spent at least half if not three fourths of my time without ammo just ramming zombies.

I think I could have been more forgiving of the low ammo counts if I could have picked up all the guns at once, however the game limits you to carrying a single gun at a time. If I could have waded into each battle with a full stockpile of all the ammo types, I think the game would have been MUCH more enjoyable.

The game provides 5 or so different cars (although the bus pretty much makes all the other ones pointless) along with three different car upgrades (speed, armor, and ramming). You can also upgrade each of your weapons three times. Money for upgrading is obtained by completing both primary and secondary objectives in missions. The game just barely unlocks the ability to upgrade ahead of your cash flow, meaning that unless you try to upgrade most of your cars you can pretty much always afford to buy the best of everything. I thought the upgrades added a bit of flavor to the game despite being relatively uninspired.

The weakest thing in the whole game is definitely the story. The beginning and ending cutscenes have no voice over and the briefings that occur between missions are nothing more than easily skippable walls of flavor text. Basically, there was a zombie outbreak and you are slowly trying to rescue people that will supposedly help. At least I *think* that's what it was about.

At the end of the day, Zombie Driver provided me with 3 or so hours of pure enjoyment. The game is fun for what it is and really doesn't try to be anything it's not. I would easily recommend it to anybody who could pick it up cheaply via Steam. I certainly wouldn't pay more than $10 for it and even that feels like a stretch due to the lack of content. It's definitely an enjoyable romp and can make for an excellent homework/work/life diversion.

Three for the Price of One

After dropping large amounts of time into inFamous and Dead Space I was ready to play something that was a bit more bite sized. Thanks, once again, to the miracle of the Steam holiday sale, I picked up Trine for little more than a song and a dance.

The premise of the game is simple yet unique. A warrior, a mage, and a thief become magically fused into a single being. As the player, you are able to swap between any of the three characters at any time. Each has unique abilities: the warrior is a combat juggernaut, the thief can swing with a grappling hook and shoot arrows, and the mage can conjure platforms and boxes and even levitate and move some objects. The game plays like a mix of an old school 2D combat/platformer and a modern puzzle game.

Loved

• Premise. The idea of swapping between three different characters on the fly is a very unique idea. Lots of people compare it to the old Blizzard game, The Lost Vikings, and while the comparison is apt, Trine is definitely an evolution on the idea. The three characters are constantly working in harmony with each other. It was not uncommon to see a swarm of skeletons and switch to the warrior. As the last one would fall, I would switch to the mage and pick up a nearby box and raise it up until it stuck into some spikes sticking down from the ceiling. Finally, I would swap out to the thief and grapping on to the now hanging box and continue on with the level.
  
  
• Variety. I read one review were the author was convinced that the mage was amazing and you would use him all the time. Another reviewer said almost the exact same thing about the thief. The fact that two different people could approach the game so differently really says something about the level and puzzle design in Trine. Each puzzle, obstacle, and enemy can be tackled in a plethora of ways. Whether you drop objects on the enemies, shoot them with a bow, or hit them with your sword, is a decision totally left up to you.
  
  
• Art. The art is Trine is absolutely beautiful. The game sits very comfortably in what has come to be known as 2.5D space, i.e.
  everything is rendered in 3D, but all of the action takes place on a single 2D plane. As a result, the creators were able to put a ridiculous amount of polish in all the things that the player does see. The backgrounds are gorgeous and the characters are easily recognizable and very iconic. The game is not just beautiful on the eyes, but also manages to put together a very decent soundtrack and a surprisingly cohesive and narrative.
  
  

I know I usually put a "Hated" section down here, but try as I might I can't think of a single thing I really hated about this game. It wasn't a very long game (around 3-4 hours), but I don't think it should have been any longer. The game was perhaps a bit too easy at times, but there were two difficulties past the one I was playing one. The biggest gripe I've heard with the game is that people say the last level is substantially harder than the rest of the game. While I will admit that it was harder (it took me 2 tries instead of 1), it really wasn't a big enough jump to be noticeable to me, and I probably wouldn't have thought anything of it if I hadn't heard it mentioned.

While Trine is certainly not a perfect game (and I'm not trying to imply that it is), it is a really good game. It takes a simple concept and a simple set of gameplay mechanics and polishes the hell out of them. The game even features a 2-3 player co-op mode I didn't even get a chance to play. Trine is just a brilliantly polished little game that I think just about anybody would really enjoy.

Killing Floor

Sometime last week, my friend (Draenoth) and I, picked up Killing Floor on Steam. Killing Floor is a co-op zombie survival game that was originally a mod for UT2004. It's now a standalone game still using the UT2004 engine. As you'd expect for a mod turning full game, it isn't the most amazing piece of software. However, for what it is, it's surprisingly enjoyable.

The game play quite strongly reminds me of Nazi Zombies from World at War. Basically, you play through a set number of waves where each wave has a set number of zombies. Unlike Nazi Zombies, there are a variety of zombies in Killing Floor -- some of which are absolutely brutal. In the early waves, you see nothing but Clots (your basic plodding, melee zombie), Bloats (VERY similar to Boomer's from L4D in that they spray you with bile), and Goreclaws (zombies that plod along, get close, then rush at you with some nasty blades). As the levels progress, you eventually encounter Crawlers (spider looking zombies who jump on you), Sirens (slow moving but have a stunning "scream" ability), Stalkers (mostly invisible right up until they start swiping at you), Scrakes (similar to Goreclaws but instead of blades, they wield very mean chainsaws), and finally Gorepounds (very tough zombies who chase you down and have the ability to kill you VERY fast). The variety of zombies makes for some ridiculously fast paced matches that are often quite frantic.

Also different from Nazi Zombies is the fact that there are a set number of waves. Survive them all and you enter a final wave where you must take down a Patriarch (big, tough and has a chaingun, rocket launcher, and a serious melee attack). He's definitely nasty and requires some actual strategy to defeat. The patriarch battle is a good capstone to the rounds and has satisfying feel to it that Nazi Zombies lacks, even when you go through 20+ rounds.

As far as weapons go, Killing Floor has a pretty decent variety. There are a handful of melee weapons including an axe, a katana, and chainsaw. The guns include dual wielded Desert Eagles Hand Cannons, machine guns, shotguns, rifles, and even a crossbow, rocket launcher, flame thrower. Additionally, you have the ability to pull out a syringe and heal yourself (or teammates) and even a welder to seal doors to slow the flow of zombies. I'm pretty pleased with the gun selection in Killing Floor and find it to be substantially better than either Left 4 Dead or the Nazi Zombie mode.

The thing I most like about Killing Floor, however, is its perk system. You can choose from one of 6 (I think) different perks. Each of these boosts a specific weapon class. There is one for healing, one for the shotgun, one for melee, one for pistols/rifles, one for machine guns, and one for the flamethrower. They provide a boost to your damage, your reload speed, and even provide weapon discounts (you buy weapons from a trader between waves). Each perk levels from 0 to 5. To level them up, you merely use the related skill/weapon. The best part is that you don't need to be that class to level up the perk, e.g. if you are a Firebug, you still level up your medic perk by healing your teammates. The perks level up in a matter resembling a quadratic curve, i.e. they level a LOT slower after the first few levels. So far, they've started to get really amazing at just level 2, so we're pretty anxious to see how they end up.

My biggest beef with the game so far is definitely how buggy the graphics are. While Draenoth reports that things seem okay for him, I have some really annoying problems with textures that seem to disappear. I even filed a bug on the official forums (it's still in moderation, I'll link it when it's up).

The final, most interesting thing we noticed about the game is just how challenging it is. We started playing on Normal (2 difficulties above it, 1 below) and found ourselves dying quite consistently in only the second round. After spending some time in Beginner, with a mutator turned on that only spawns Clots, we managed to level up our perks enough so that we were able to finally get through a game on Normal. I think it's actually pretty cool that the game has such a wide range of difficulty options.

I'm going to wait until we play the game more to write up final thoughts, but so far I'm relatively pleased. It's not amazing, it probably won't be something I'll play for a really long time, but it was easily worth the $20 I paid for it. Oh, and if any of you pick it up, let me know as it supports up to 6 people.

The Path Review

The other game I played through this last weekend was The Path. It's a creepy adventure game based on the story of Little Red Riding Hood. Basically, you select from one of 6 different "Red" sisters. Each of them sport a unique personality: little Robin is young and naive, Scarlet is the responsible "mom" type, Ruby is the rebellious goth, etc. Regardless of your choice, you are dumped at the start of the path with two instructions:

1. Go to Grandmother's house
2. Don't stray from the path

Like any good little gamer, I walked straight down the path, entered Grandmother's house, navigated to her room (you just press a button and watch the girl automatically move through the house), and was promptly informed that I had failed.

I immediately started again and decided to carefully make my way off of the path. At first I was hesitant and kept the path in sight, fearing that I would be attacked by a wolf if I strayed too far. After I continued to encounter nothing, I decided I would just run directly away and see what I could find.

Before long, I came to a graveyard. I looked around and saw some objects I could "interact" with: a skull, a dead bird, and even a mysterious girl in white. I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to be doing, so I spent the next hour or so wandering aimlessly through the forest. I found various things strewn about, some of which I could "collect" and some I could not -- there was an obvious indicator on some that I would need to visit it with another girl. Eventually, I had an encounter with the "wolf," who was some sort of water entity or something. When I awoke, I was lying on the ground just outside of Grandmother's house. I limped inside and quickly discovered that the interior was quite different. Instead of walking peacefully to Grandmother's room, I went from room to room, each of which was like some sort of personal Hell for my "sister." Instead of arriving safely at the end, I eventually encountered a final room and I think I was killed somehow. I don't really know.

That's pretty much the whole game. I played through with each of the other 5 girls for good measure, each of which had a different feel and experiences, but were all pretty similar.

Okay, my final thoughts:

Loved

• Creepy. The game had great music and a great visual style. I also really enjoyed how the comments of the girls were written to the screen. In general, there always seemed to be some sort of danger lurking, even though there wasn't. I also thought the scenes in Grandma's house were both creepy and disturbing.

Hated

• WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?! I basically spent the whole game asking that question. I figured it would become more clear when I starting playing with other girls. Nope. Then I figured it would become more clear when I played the Epilogue. Nope. Finally, I went and read a walkthough of the game hoping that would make it more obvious. Nope. I get that the game is dripping with symbolism (the wolves represent things like rape/approval/etc.), but it was WAY too abstract for me. There was just lots of stuff (read: pretty much everything) that there was no explanation for.
• Wandering in the forest. The game expects you to find various objects throughout the forest. Each girl has a subset of the overall group of items that she can find/interact with. These subsets overlap between the various girls. Each girl also has 2-3 "special" items that she finds that unlock extra rooms at Grandma's. Finally, each girl needs to find her "wolf." The forest is a ridiculously annoying place with visibility at only a couple hundred feet, sides that wrap (think Zelda Lost Forest style), and very few landmarks of any distinction. The only map you initially get (until you finish the game once) is a 2D overlay that shows up every so often on its own, indicating the path you have taken. Furthermore, I'm pretty sure the forest was different (at least slightly) for every girl. All of these things combined meant that I spent the VAST majority of my time just sort of wandering aimlessly, looking for things I could interact with. It was quite tedious and definitely sucked away from my overall enjoyment.

The Path is definitely in the "art as games" category. I'll be honest: I didn't "get it." That's not to say that somebody else wouldn't, but I'd have a really hard time recommending it. If you like weird, artsy adventure games, give it a try.

And make sure to come back and explain it to me when you're done.

Braid Review

I'm still playing through the games in that big indie games pack, and actually got through two of them this last weekend. First up: Braid.

Braid is a very interesting puzzle game, the likes of which I don't believe I've ever seen. At its core, it is little more than a simple platformer with puzzle elements. You move, jump, stomp enemies, and use keys to open doors while trying to collect puzzle pieces. In fact, the first set of stages are little more than that. However, the game has a hook that really changes its dynamic: time manipulation.

If you die somehow, instead of presenting you with a game over screen or similar, the game just shows you the rewind time button. As you hold that button down, time rewinds until you let go -- even all the way back to when you started the level. You can use the trigger buttons to speed up/slow down time, even reversing its direction and playing it forward again. While this does have a Sands of Time style usage as mentioned previously, it is a LOT more involved than that. For example, any item that has green sparkles around it is unaffected by time manipulation. You can jump down a pit, grab a "green" key, and then rewind time and watch the key come right out of the pit with you. It makes for some REALLY interesting mechanics. Furthermore, each level has a unique time related mechanic you use throughout its stages. I'll discuss those more below.

Intro done; here's the review:

Loved

• Time manipulation. I really enjoyed the time manipulation mechanic. It was very interesting and allows you to do all kinds of things you wouldn't even initially realize. The game also has some great graphical changes when you were manipulating time, with the screen becoming gray scale when reversing and oversaturated when going forward.
• Unique level mechanics. As I mentioned above, each level had a unique mechanic. There were 5 level in all (although for some reason the first one is level 2), and each played VERY different. Level 2 was merely a set of jumping puzzles. Level 3 introduces you to time manipulation and "green" items. Level 4 was probably the most unique in that as you move right on the screen time flows forward and as you move left, it flows backwards. It made for some super interesting solutions. In Level 5 you have a shadow that appears after you rewind time and carries out all the actions you yourself just did. Solutions here require you to actual work together with yourself. Finally, in level 6, you can erect a time-slowing bubble. Every level had a very different feel and it kept the game quite fresh.
• Logical solutions. With one relatively glaring exception (remember that enemies bounce up when they land on your head), all of the solutions actually made sense. There were not really any times where the solutions were ridiculous and they all generally just required some thought and a little trial and error.
  

Hated

• No "capstone" level. The game length really wasn't bad, but I felt like it could have used another level at the end that required you to use all or some of the mechanics together. Stages where you have to run your shadow through a time-slow bubble or something similar REALLY would have been cool. The final stage was actually relatively disappointing and required very little thought.

My quibbles with the game are definitely minor and I would recommend it to anybody. Even at the $10-$15 price point, I don't think you'll be disappointed. If you have even a passing interest in puzzle games, pick it up.

Like Geometry Wars… with LSD

In the last few days, I’ve been playing through more of the games in my big Indie Game pack. Most recently, I’ve spent some time with Everyday Shooter. While I haven’t quite finished the game (it’s HARD), I feel like I’ve played enough of it throw out a decent review.

Before I get to likes and dislikes, let me describe the game briefly. In a nutshell, the game is Geometry Wars. Like Geometry Wars, it’s best played with a gamepad; the left control stick moves you around and the right one shoots. That’s pretty much it.

Unlike Geometry Wars, this game is psychedelic. In a good way. Each level different… in pretty much everyway. The game only has 8 levels – although reaching the last one requires crazy skill. Let’s get on with it now.

Loved

• Unique Levels. Not only does the background and music change each level as you’d expect, but the enemies change too. The enemy changes are not superficial; the mechanics they use change radically from level to level. In one, you are shooting an eyeball with robots coming out of it; in another you're shooting little plane looking things trying to avoid something that I can only classify as the “red baron.” I’ve made it through 6 of the levels, and each of them is COMPLETELY different. It really is a nice touch, especially compared to Geometry Wars where the game remains largely the same.
• Music. The music in the game is decent enough for what it is, but what really makes it shine is how it integrates with the game play. Blowing up large enemies triggers a crescendo-like effect that perfectly fits with the music. The audio in general is very well done and just very enjoyable. The music is SO tied to the game that the levels actually last for the length of a single song.

Hated

• Repetitiveness. When you start playing the game, you have access to a single mode: playing the game through from start to finish. You have a set number of lives and no continues. If you die, you start back over at level 1. While you can eventually unlock the ability to play individual levels or get more lives, you still just find yourself playing over and over again from the first level. I really wish I had the ability to “continue” when I died, or even to start the “adventure” mode from a specific level. I have this feeling that it will be quite awhile before I see the last level, merely because I just can’t take that much of the game in a single sitting.

There’s definitely a lot to like here. If the game made it easier to see/experience all the levels, it would be hard to fault it on much of anything. While I definitely wouldn’t recommend anybody pay very much for it (there really isn’t much game here), anything in the sub $10 range would be well worth the investment. The game is definitely a bit more art that actual game, but it really is a decent way to spend some 10-15 minute blocks.

Crayon Physics Deluxe Review

I finished Crayon Physics Deluxe a while ago, but due to a weekend in Las Vegas sans internet, I’m only writing up my final thoughts now.

Loved

• Draw Anything. My favorite thing about this game is how you can draw anything you want and have it instantly come to life. Some of the solutions I came up with involved me drawing absolutely ridiculous shapes and devices. To get all the stars, you have to solve the levels with a single shape. Most of the time, these shapes are absolutely crazy. It was just a lot of fun.
• Physics. Make a game with a strong physics influence and I’ll get it. CPD not only has physics, but it has good physics. Perhaps it’s my physics fetish, but good game physics instantly raise a game’s quality in my eyes.
• Multiple Solutions. There are just a ridiculously large number of ways to solve each level. On a lot of them, I would build a contraption to hold my ball, tether it to a cord, wrap the cord over another object, tether the other end to a large block and then let the block fall. My ball would then be whipped at rapid speed toward the star. It was VERY effective. In others, I basically found myself slowly moving my ball up by drawing blocks underneath it. There are just tons of options.

Hated

• Length. I understand the difficulty of making content for a game like this, but the game just wasn’t very long at all. I played through it in like 4 hours. I definitely got to the end of the game and wanted more. I will give bonus points for the availability of user content, but the core game could have used a bit more.
• Disparity between Levels. Some levels in this game were REALLY fun (see: any level with a rocket in it). Others just weren’t at all. I also felt that the game didn’t progress very well. After the island with the rockets, they barely appeared. It didn’t seem to build upon itself like it should.
• Forced Thinking. To obtain the bonus star on each level, the game forces you to solve the level without using pins (for ropes, etc.) and only using one object. Although I had fun figuring out some of the single object solutions (see: any level with a rocket in it), most of the others were pretty dull. Also, pins and ropes were hands down my favorite part of the game, so being forced to not use them was disappointing.

Let me sum it up for you: this game is a BLAST.

To prove my point, here is a video I recorded of myself while playing the game. I SWEAR that it is my actual reaction. And as you could probably guess, this level had a rocket in it.

If you can find it cheap, pick it up. You won’t regret it.

Indie Games Smorgasbord

As has been a recurring trend lately, I picked up some new games in the Steam weekend deal. This one is particularly good, containing 10 top quality indie games for a measly $30. Since most of them run $10-$20 EACH, the value is phenomenal. After a bit of deliberation, I decided to start with Crayon Physics Deluxe.

Crayon Physics Deluxe is based on (surprise!) Crayon Physics, which was a five-day rapid prototyping project released back in 2007. More a tech demo than a game, I could see that it definitely had potential; however, the drawing wasn't very good, as all shapes were translated into primitives (rectangles, etc). When I heard that the creator was creating a "Deluxe" version with proper physics and collision detection, I was definitely excited. I've been meaning to pick it up since the beginning of the year, but just never got around to it. As part of this super deal, I couldn't resist.

The game is pretty simple: push/guide a ball around various stages while trying to get it to collide with one or more stars. You accomplish this by using your mouse (this game would ROCK on a tablet PC) to draw various shapes. You can make simple platforms, ropes, pulleys, and all kinds of other shapes. Setup a path for your ball to follow and then either drop something on it to get it moving, push it by clicking on it, or use some sort of basket to catapult it to victory.

As you collect stars, you unlock additional islands and stages to play in. I haven’t even played half the stages, but so far I am very impressed. The level design is interesting and forces you to use a variety of tactics.

After you manage to collect the stars, you can go back and try to get both the “elegant” and the “old school” solutions. These involve using either a specific number of objects (elegant) or doing it without using strings and pulleys (old school). It adds even more variety to an already stellar game.

While playing this, I couldn’t help but compare it to World of Goo – especially as both are puzzle games where physics play a big role. While I LOVED the setting, art style, music, and even the gameplay of World of Goo, Crayon Physics has a charm and inventiveness to it that just isn’t matched. I’m definitely looking forward to playing the tail half. I’ll be sure to post any interesting stages or solutions I come upon.