Buy this game!

I don't normally do this, but I just wanted to pass on a recommendation to buy this game, if you're here wondering whether to buy it or not.

I know what it's like. You've played around with those sliding picture puzzles before. Maybe you've solved them eventually, or maybe not, but you've often had the frustration overwhelm any fun in the experience. Plus, it's not like there's much difference between them anyway. Each 4x4 picture is essentially interchangeable. What could be more pointless than making an entire game from this concept.

Well, at least this is what I thought when I was considering buying this game. I bought it because I was bored and exactly $10 too rich. I figured I'd play the first few of the 50 levels, until I inevitably got stuck, and quit while I was ahead.

No such luck, of course! I was hooked from the first few levels. The designers made some really smart design choices. The learning curve is absolutely perfect. It rarely feels easy, but it was rarely frustrating (at least until about the last 5-10 levels). Also, the levels unlocked at a great pace, so if some puzzles frustrate you, there's heaps of other puzzles to chew on.

The puzzles themselves, while they all use essentially the same mechanic (no pun intended!), they don't feel repetitive. Far from simply shifting tiles on 4x4 grids, you shift on various shapes like cylinders, cubes, circles, and sometimes double-sided squares/circles, just for that extra challenge.

The objectives are also deliciously varied. There are plenty of the standard puzzles of connecting spinning cogs to unspinning ones, and of creating a closed pipe for steam to travel through, but plenty that are different. There are several which involve using cogs to create musical sequences. Some puzzles are about making certain cogs stop spinning, or making the cogs spin faster. I know it doesn't sound particularly novel and varied when I put it like this, but it never feels repetitive, and no puzzle feels redundant or unnecessary.

It took me several weeks, but I finally finished it, complete with all golds, stars, and achievements. It was utterly intoxicating the entire time. When my computer died, and I bought a new one, I couldn't help but do it all again (but faster), and while it wasn't as thrilling as the first time, it was still a solid experience.

So yeah, it's a really good game. If you appreciate puzzle games at all, it's well worth the money.

Thanks for reading!

[chilkat]

Thanks for the nice review

Just one question, does this game have a "relax mode".
In other words, can you play without time- and/or move limits?

[dokspider]

Originally Posted by chilkat

Thanks for the nice review

Just one question, does this game have a "relax mode".
In other words, can you play without time- and/or move limits?

There is a timer and move counter but no limits in inventor mode. Check out the demo. It is a good game.

FYI, it's part of the "Pay What You Want" Humble Bundle #3 so you can get it for less as part of that bundle. Decent game.

[Totalitator]

It is quite beautiful to behold graphically, with wonderful sounds and music as well. It is creative and fun to look at, but at the end of the day it is the classic sliding puzzle game. I'm not going to write a second review but I do have one caveat and that is that for me, starting with the Two Sided level it became more frustrating than fun. Up to that point I was doing okay with it, and really enjoying the game's atmosphere. I find myself wishing the game was more in-depth, having to do with linking gears together and creating machines in this wonderful world, something beyond sliding puzzle mechanics.

[SamuraiCaveman]

I got it in the Humble Bundle. It's a really well-made game, but unfortunately I absolutely suck at sliding puzzles.

[B-diggity]

Got it in the Humble Bundle too, and I love this game. Great music and graphics, and the puzzles are lots of fun.

So proud of myself for earning 400 stars, and I hope to one day unlock the final credits.