[b]8/10[/b]
An excellent 3D sokoban that gradually ramps up the difficulty in an educational exploration of puzzling elements.
[b]What is it:[/b] A 3D box moving puzzle game with interesting mechanics. Open world presentation, you navigate an overworld to access the different levels, although a very convenient list of all unlocked levels is available. Every level has a bunch of blocks of different kinds, maybe some special spots, and a bunch of target spots. You control the blue blocks, and they all move at once. The goal in each level is to have every target spot occupied by a blue block at the same time. Other than the blue blocks you control and fixed walls, there are plain blocks you can use as support, health blocks that attach to and grow the blue blocks, floating blocks, conveyor spots that move anything in them in one direction, and paired clone spots that duplicate whatever is in one of them when the other one is empty.
These mechanics are masterfully combined in interesting puzzles, but what sets Bond apart from other games is how the levels are organized. After a few very well done tutorial levels that teach the mechanics, the levels are split into chapters, each introducing a new mechanic. But instead of a plethora of really hard puzzles, each chapter has a few branches of related puzzles focusing on a concept. It starts simple with an almost obvious puzzle. Then it tweaks it little by little, making it harder and harder, but-what-if-ing until you get to a really hard puzzle that resembles the original simple premise, but seems impossible. Can you build a 5-steps wide bridge using 5 floating bricks? Can you do it with 4 floating bricks and a regular one? But can you do it with just 4 bricks? And can you do it with just 2 bricks? If this was Stephen’s Sausage Roll, you’d only get the final puzzle, and you’d have to discover on your own all the intricate mechanics of crossing a 5-steps wide gap with just 2 bricks, and that would have been fine as well for those really into hard puzzles, but here you are given a lesson in puzzle solving, not just a challenge. I usually complain when a game has levels that are too similar to each other, but here it’s done well, the levels are different enough not to seem like lazy puzzle design, yet similar enough to have an underlying theme.
Other than good puzzle design, the game is well done in general. Simple but pleasant graphics, and a good soundtrack. It has a very good level select, you can just navigate the overworld (which has a few puzzles in it too), or you can open any unsolved accessible level from a list. Once you reach the exit, you get the chance to optimize your moves if you wish to.
Overall, a good game, I really enjoyed the puzzles, many of them thoroughly exercised my thinking-in-3D brain muscles.
[b]How hard is it:[/b] Easy to hard, with some levels nearing the very hard difficulty rating.
[b]How long is it:[/b] 64 levels. A few levels unlocked at once, although there’s no level skipping. 5-10 hours to finish the game, and many more to perfect every level.
[b]Level design:[/b] Very good. Small, focused levels, with mostly unique solutions. The vast majority have a nice solution that you are pushed to discover, but I felt that a few were too abstract and I could only solve them by randomly moving things around until I got near a solution.
[b]Quality:[/b] Good. Good puzzles, unlimited undo, good level select. Good controls, fully configurable, works well with a controller. Decent settings. Cloud saving, but no achievements yet. Fast and responsive graphics, even on an integrated GPU, but the movement is a bit too slow for me.
[b]Worth the price:[/b] Yes.
[b]Most positive aspect for me:[/b] Good 3D puzzles.
[b]Most negative aspect for me:[/b] Slow movement.
[b]What would make it better:[/b] Achievements. Faster movement, smaller pauses when a block falls off the level. More levels.
[b]Also consider:[/b]
[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/353540/Stephens_Sausage_Roll/?curator_clanid=25928931]Stephen’s Sausage Roll[/url], the best in 3D open world puzzler.
[url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1747510/An_Architects_Adventure/?curator_clanid=25928931]An Architect’s Adventure[/url], 3D open world block pushing puzzle.
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