[h1] Game Summary: [/h1]
What the description of this game fails to explain clearly is that this is a remake of a game from around 2004 by the same name, that was available on certain scientific calculators. I found that out when looking for a walkthrough on some of the stages. It seems rather shameless for this not to be mentioned at all on the store page, with the original 11 levels simply called Classic, without explanation. Guess that's what makes this a "retro" game though. What really irritates me about all of this is how the short video only shows a small amount of content, and I thought the mechanics of the game were going to be much better than they actually turned out to be. I definitely think they showed as little as possible for a reason.
[h1] Pros: [/h1]
• If you liked the calculator game by the same name from years yonder, this is your chance to play it all over again. It has a few more stages than the original, for a total of 31 stages!
[h1] Cons: [/h1]
• I really dislike how the game handles. If the character moves up or down a level, he's able to turn right around and place a block without moving. However, if moving left and right without moving up or down at all, you can't turn him around without moving in the direction you're turning. This mechanic greatly limits one's ability to control and work with the puzzles. Let me turn right around!
• Based on a forum post by the developers, there are only a total of 31 stages in the game, 11 of which were pulled directly from the original game. So, all they did was program and re-skin this old game and add 20 levels to it. Clearly they weren't passionate about this puzzler if they could only design 20 of their own levels.
• There's no undo command in the game, to take back a single errant move. If you screw up you have to restart the entire stage all over again, which is a bad combination with sensitive controls and unforgiving puzzle mechanics.
• I don't know how the achievements work or to what they're referring. I got one talking about pills while playing a random stage, in which there were no pills. I didn't even beat the level yet or do anything noteworthy.
• The controls are overly sensitive. I routinely place the barrel down immediately after I just picked it up, when I'm trying to move it. It's very easy to walk one space too far and wind up in a pit you can't get out of as well.
• The sound effects are not pleasing to the ear, and the music is just a continual loop that's just as annoying.
[h1] Conclusion: [/h1]
I would not give any grief to the people that originally designed this game more than 10 years ago that was playable on a calculator for its design flaws. However, for these developers who took that basis, made no meaningful changes, let alone improvements, and recreated the game for a profit, I find it to be uncouth. Hopefully they did everything properly so that it's not breaking any laws, but even assuming that this is the case, that would be a very flimsy baseline. Ultimately, the aesthetic changes that were made give more color to the game, but they actually impede the game in the sense that it makes no sense as to what the character is doing or why. The "scientist" is picking up barrels of toxic waste and walking on top of them. Such good sciencing. The description and achievements suggest there's some semblance of a story, but there's no story elements whatsoever, such as text or still pictures. Even for only a dollar or even on sale for less than that, I don't recommend this game. The only exception would be for those who'd want to experience nostalgia from the original.
