2008 Competition Results: (4:A Game For Helen)

1st Place – The Factory – Total: 318

Ian:

“BERTHA, lovely BERTHA, you are a lovely machine
Anyone who works with you will know just what I mean.
BERTHA, lovely BERTHA, sometimes I think you’re a dream,
When we work out what you have to do,
You can always turn the goods out, always turn the goods out,
We can depend upon you.”

For those that don’t have a clue what that was all about, BERTHA was a Children’s BBC show back in the 80’s about a machine (called BERTHA, surprisingly enough) that could make anything as long as “she” was programmed correctly. Which leads us nicely into this review.

Like BERTHA, the aim of this game is to program a machine (or series of machines) to create metal objects to a specified design supplied by the customers that pay your virtual wages.

Now, I’ve worked in factories before, and I know that BERTHA is but a dream and that using any machine over a long period is INCREDIBLY boring, so a game based on engineering blank metal sheets into complex designs sounds a tad dull. But you’d be wrong. Very wrong.

The functional graphics and sound really don’t do the game justice, but gameplay is where this neat little puzzler counts. And it’s a goody. Not a Bill Oddie “Goodie”, but a nice little remake of a C64 game.

While the game presentation is initially quite confusing, programming the machine simply involves inputting specific icon based “commands” into an array of boxes, which when run cause the machine(s) to burst into life and carry out your orders. Instructions include drilling holes, rotating, lasering and painting.

Unfortunately, you won’t know if your inputted instructions will recreate the required design until the machine has run its course, at which point you have either succeeded or failed. Sometimes it’s a simple case of the orientation being incorrect at the end of the run, sometimes it’s something less obvious.

The game offers a huge challenge, with ever increasingly elaborate designs being required. It’s highly unlikely you’ll see them all in one sitting, as you’ll probably get bored (just like in a real factory) or stuck completely. Thankfully then there is an auto-save function that saves your progress so you can continue at your leisure. Nice.

73%

Geekay:

Tetris killed the imagination of puzzle games.  After the millionth clone, I went right off this genre.  The occasional game got my attention, but on the whole, I was pretty much Mr Meh!  In this case though, I am delighted to see the remake of this game.  Not that I have ever heard of it before.  This only adds to the bonus of my surprise that there are some intuitive puzzles out there that tax the brain in some other way that I don’t see coloured shapes when I go to my bed.

The game concept is very simple indeed.  The player has to drill, etch & paint their plate of metal in the exact way as the “here’s one I did earlier” example.  It may sound easy, but by level 5, I was cutting out the template on the notepad on my desk just to get a 3d visualisation of the task.  Warning, this game is addictive; I initially had enough, I switched it off and within 5 minutes I had loaded it back up again for anther shot.  This went on all night.

It isn’t the most prettiest game out there, but the graphics are very functional.  It is nice to see all the action and the jiggery pokery going on.  It does get a bit tiring on later levels when you almost have something akin to a Heath Robinson contraption going on, and it takes about 5 minutes to see if you have succeeded or not. I suppose that speeding it up would kill any suspense in the solution though.

I had commented on the authors last game that his name was displayed everywhere – this time there is no escaping it as it is stuck on a permanent banner at the top of the screen. They have a great expression in Glasgow that I have to use in respect to that…. “Goanny no dae that!”.  I know your name dude, it’s right there in the read me file and the credits in the menu. A minor grumble, I know, but I have to protest. Onymous narcissism be gone!

Anyway, with all the enjoyable quality in the gaming department, it is a shame that the game lacks any real ambience beyond the functional sound effects of the machinery.  Some nice tunes would have been a welcome addition to the game and made it an overall better package.  As it stands, it lacks atmosphere.

I’m glad to see some good accessibility options in here.  This is a top notch puzzle for everyone to play.  Too many times there are games that are made for people with disabilities are extremely condescending and with all the wrong assumptions about their mental state of play.  This game is challenging for all people of all abilities.

Well done.

80%

Spray:

I’ve been delaying reviewing this for a couple of weeks now, the reason being that it was the first game I played from the compo and it’s the one that I keep coming back to and I really want to get it out of my system before over hyping it.

Some like shooters, some like platformers, I, for my sins, love a bit of puzzle goodness and this really does hit the spot. I love it, I can’t get enough of it. It’s a masterpiece in gaming.

The problem here is that it’s been entered into the Games For Helen category and, even though it undoubtedly qualifies, I really don’t think the one-switch implementation really suits it. Machine selection in a slow and dull process and you lose all the visual clues that you get when playing with the mouse.

I can (and do) play this game happily for hours, I can stomach the one-switch version for a minute and a half max.

Also, it displeased me muchly to find, after a little investigation, that the game that I’ve been spending so much time and brainpower on was actually a remake of an educational title for 7 year olds. I mean, come on, I’m struggling badly with some of these puzzles and the I find out it’s for primary school kids – gutted!

Anyway.

76%

Oogy:

Working in a factory can be hard at times. Especially when your boss is requesting the craziest designs imaginable, and you only have a few machines with which to meet such specifications. But you’re up to a challenge I bet, and that’s exactly what you’ll get.

I find this to be a very relaxing puzzle game. it is well designed and well thought out. The controls are easy and even though the game is easy to play, that doesn’t mean the puzzles are as well. In fact, they start out quite easy, but progress rather nicely in difficulty. And you’ll soon find yourself thinking on how to solve a puzzle with the limited means at your disposal.

As with a lot of other entries, it’s too bad that there was no music supplied with this game, as it could’ve used something in the background while I’m mulling over a puzzle. Also, the menu system, although effective, doesn’t really fit the graphics style of the game itself. But these are just minor niggles and don’t take any fun away from actually playing it. It’s a very well designed game, and well worth anyone’s time methinks.

89%

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