1,143
people found this helpful, as of 2023
ranked #8,207 most helpful
out of 571,544,897 reviews
★★★★☆
Novel puzzle game with a few flaws
This game is interesting, has unique puzzles, and it technically works. But there are a few key flaws that makes the game quite frustrating.
First, as others have said, there are no instructions. You start the game staring at a door and then press the button to go up. I suppose they are trying to hint at what is essentially the goal of every floor, to somehow find a way to open the door and move up to the next floor.
It would be nice if there were some instructions, though, that would give a hint as to what kinds of things to expect for solving the puzzles. At the very least they could say "This game uses the full range of functions on your device. Puzzles can require touch, tap, tilt, shake, different orientations, multiple finger gestures, etc." Many people have been frustrated at a very early level because they didn't realize the game uses the tilt sensors.
A hint feature would be nice. The game was designed with hints of some sort on each level to give the player a clue of what to do to solve the puzzle. However, these hints are often lacking or just confusing. I imagine much of the players, if not most, have resorted to using outside help to solve a puzzle they were stuck on (likely on many puzzles). If they player is just going to get the solution to the puzzle anyway, why not add a hint feature that can maybe point out something important or show the next piece of the puzzle? Every puzzle has multiple step anyway, so giving away one shouldn't hurt anything. Or, if the player has to use hints for every step of the puzzle, why should that matter? If they don't figure it out, they're just going to go to the cheat guide app anyway.
Sensitivity. There have been a number of puzzles so far that I was actually on the right track but the game showed no response so I gave up and went to try something else. For instance, puzzles that requires you to hold a button till all the lights turn on should have the first light come on as soon as you start pressing the button rather than a second or two later.
Also with the sensitivity issues is the fact that pieces that are dragged will lag behind the finger. This can be confusing when a player tries to place the PIECE in the right spot, not realizing that they actually need to move their FINGER to the spot instead. In addition, there is a certain puzzle that requires dragging an object in a circle. Since the "object" lags behind the finger, it doesn't really move in a circle but kind of jumps around. The puzzle seems to expect the object to move in a circle and, since it doesn't, it becomes very difficult to complete the puzzle. Actually, on that same puzzle the game should be less sensitive to the exact motion of the object and just allow the user to actually complete the puzzle when they are obviously using a correct enough motion.
Timers. There are certain puzzles (such as the object-moving-in-a-circle puzzle mentioned earlier) that have a bar that must be filled by completing repetitive tasks. Once you stop performing the task, the timer counts down. Sadly, due to the sensitivity issues, the countdown time will often overcome the repetitive task causing the puzzle to take significantly longer (and with much greater physical exertions) than it otherwise should.
August 2012 · Unknown · verified purchase