|
Puzzle vs. Resco Blocks
.:
Puzzle ::
Resco Blocks :.
.: By:
Jason Surguine :: Device
used:
E-115 :: March 4, 2001 :.
Puzzle:
I’m reviewing these two games because they
are very similar, yet each have their own separate good and bad traits. So while
it will be a comparison of the two, I will also try give a fair and separate
review for each game.
First I will start with Puzzle,
a freeware game by Maximilian Wimmer.
First of all, judging by the unique name, I was very surprised to find that it
was a puzzle game. Now, I know this isn’t really a factor in reviewing a title
(especially with puzzle games), but I think it would be a refreshing
change to have a puzzle game’s title be more than one word, and a little more
creative. You know, something like, Maximilian’s Blue Square of Numerical
Death….. or something along those lines. But back to the actual game.
This is the simple puzzle game where you have 15 numbered blocks on a board of
16 spaces, leaving one of those spaces open from which you can maneuver the
blocks, one at a time. The object of the game is to put the numbers in the
correct order from 1 to 15 starting at the top and going to the bottom. The way
your score is kept is by how many moves it took you to accomplish
your goal.
This may sound familiar to you. It’s an old classic game dating
back to I don’t know when. I remember people giving this game away in little
plastic toy versions as constellation prizes at parties when I was a kid. Of
course I would get so frustrated then I would cheat by popping the
numbers out of their cheap plastic case and put them back in the right order,
then show it to everybody and have them think how smart I was… At first, when
I started playing Puzzle
on the Pocket PC, I thought about popping out the numbers again, but I couldn’t
figure out how without ruining the LCD screen.
The control in this game is as follows: Tap on box next to empty space, box
moves. Not too complicated.
Speaking of the screen, let’s talk about the graphics. This game takes full
advantage of the entire spectrum of the Pocket PC’s 12/16-bit color
capabilities. The on screen colors consist of white, blue, black. AND gray! All
joking aside, this is the most graphically pathetic puzzle game I’ve
seen thus far. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe that a game HAS to have
good graphics to be enjoyable, but I do believe that the LACK of good graphics
can severely cripple a game, and make it much less desirable to play. But it
does get the job done, kind of. I’ve found that there is a
small waiting time between clicking on the number-box and the when it actually
moves. While this doesn’t make the game bad, it just gets kind of annoying
when you’re trying to move boxes around in a timely manner.
There is no sound in this game. None. Not even a default "ding" when
you finish the game. This, added to the monotonous background, make the game
even more boring, and less fun. I don’t think I can stress enough about the
importance of sound in games. Of course there are plenty of games with bad sound
that you end up turning off anyways, but even that is more memorable than those
games with no sound at all. And the biggest thing missing in most Pocket PC
games right now is good sound, including sound effects AND music.
Overall, I think this game does have it’s place within the genre puzzle games
for the Pocket PC. One. It’s free, and while not everything that’s free is
good, this isn’t bad. Two, it’s easy to play and can be addicting. Three,
you really can’t lose in this game, there is no way to get a game
over (unless you decide to quit because you get so frustrated, or bored). And
lastly, this is a great warm-up and good teaching tool to prepare you for a much
better version of this game, Resco
Blocks, which I’ll be discussing next.
Pros:
-
Easy to play
-
It’s a classic game
-
It’s Free
-
Good for beginners.
Cons:
|
PocketGamer.org
score: |
 |
Resco
Blocks:
Once again, an incredibly ingenious title.
Resco
Blocks. Why not at least TRY to make it sound
appealing? Something more like, "Bad Billy’s Brick-House Block Party from
Hell!". With a title like that, some people might download/buy it just for
the name.
This game is almost exactly the same as Puzzle,
however there are a few minor changes which make this title much more fun. The
biggest gameplay difference is the scoring system. You start off with 9990
points and once you start tapping, it starts counting down in increments of ten
until you
finish. If you don’t finish before the timer/points become zero, game over.
This is what makes this title SO much more exciting. This can also make the game
MUCH harder. This is why I suggest starting out with the no time limited Puzzle
before jumping right into this title. It can be very
frustrating losing several times in a row, just because you ONLY needed to move
50 more times.
Well, that and the graphics are done very well. This is one of the few puzzle
games with an attempt at decent to good graphics. Good, I like that, no more
drab, white, one-tone background. We’ve got a well shaded 3-d colored
background. And no more flat boxes like puzzle, with a flat-fonted
number in the middle. We even have nicely designed 3-d stone-like bricks with
3-d shaded numbers in the boxes. Also, these boxes can move real fast, which is
good, because you’re being timed. Kind of funny that the game with better
graphics has no slowdown when the more graphically intense boxes are moving…
The only drawback of the graphics is the well placed advertisement at the bottom
of the screen asking you to buy their other products, but that makes the game
free, so you can’t complain too much.
While there is no music or an abundance of sound in the game, there are a couple
sound effects which are pretty cool. The one that laughs at you when you lose
can start to get on your nerves after awhile… especially if you keep losing.
Still, alas, no music.
All in all, I think this is one of my favorite puzzle games. It’s simple,
addicting, and executed well. While it is basically the same premise as Puzzle,
the extra graphical touches, sounds and gameplay in general, surpasses Puzzle
by a long shot. If you have 5 minutes (minimum) to kill, this is the game to
kill it with.
Pros:
Cons:
|
PocketGamer.org score: |
 |
.: Game category:
Puzzle Games :: Reviews
Index :.
|
