Fun, but
Very fun game with multiple types of challenges (coins, pars, achievements) that doesn't rely on the three star ranking system that hundreds of other mobile puzzle games use. It's also a friendly game - it could have forced you to achieve pars to continue to the next level, but it thankfully doesn't. It also doesn't force you to collect all coins in one run to 100% a level, so if you have trouble getting the coins and chest somewhere, you can just focus on one and get the other on a separate run.
Something I dislike with mobile physics puzzle games is what I call the "random physics problem", where because of micro-movements that happen when you put down and lift your finger, the game thinks you tapped somewhere else, which makes it seem like the game is giving random results even though you're tapping at the same place each time. This can be frustrating with games like Angry Birds, but this game makes up for it by not having a lot of levels that needs you to be precise with your cuts. If it seems like I need to get lucky with the physics to achieve par, it's because I haven't found the right solution yet.
With that said, there is one level that soured my mood a lot, one which genuinely relies on random physics to even beat, even when you have the solution. It's Steam Powered from Underdwell. In it, you need to activate thrusters to make a hammer launch your viking in the goal. The hammer is designed so that you can't change where or how fast it moves, so in theory you should always be able to hit the goal. However, when I played it, the hammer either misses the viking, launches it too short, or, in two rare cases, somehow launches the viking into the chain of rocks behind the goal so fast that the viking pushes the rocks backwards and lands in the water. What's more, there's a chest that also needs a thruster setup to get, which also can't be controlled, and it fails to work way more than the hammer setup does. I spent half an hour on it and still couldn't get the chest, and it feels like a oversight in an otherwise challenging but fair game.
Still, one horrible level doesn't diminish all the great ideas and fun challenges in this game, and it deserves all the praise it gets.
Something I dislike with mobile physics puzzle games is what I call the "random physics problem", where because of micro-movements that happen when you put down and lift your finger, the game thinks you tapped somewhere else, which makes it seem like the game is giving random results even though you're tapping at the same place each time. This can be frustrating with games like Angry Birds, but this game makes up for it by not having a lot of levels that needs you to be precise with your cuts. If it seems like I need to get lucky with the physics to achieve par, it's because I haven't found the right solution yet.
With that said, there is one level that soured my mood a lot, one which genuinely relies on random physics to even beat, even when you have the solution. It's Steam Powered from Underdwell. In it, you need to activate thrusters to make a hammer launch your viking in the goal. The hammer is designed so that you can't change where or how fast it moves, so in theory you should always be able to hit the goal. However, when I played it, the hammer either misses the viking, launches it too short, or, in two rare cases, somehow launches the viking into the chain of rocks behind the goal so fast that the viking pushes the rocks backwards and lands in the water. What's more, there's a chest that also needs a thruster setup to get, which also can't be controlled, and it fails to work way more than the hammer setup does. I spent half an hour on it and still couldn't get the chest, and it feels like a oversight in an otherwise challenging but fair game.
Still, one horrible level doesn't diminish all the great ideas and fun challenges in this game, and it deserves all the praise it gets.
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