by Kat Parkinson

Created on: January 14, 2008

HandMade Game thought outside of the box with their new sliding box game, Rooms.

Devotees of the puzzle genre are in for a treat. You have these two-dimensional square rooms that you need to place in the right position, like a sliding tile game. What's new and challenging is that you are a little man that walks and climbs ladders from room to room, so you can only slide each room that you are in at the time. Also, you have to overcome obstacles, such as picking up a fishbowl and placing it on your head to enable you to breathe in a room that happens to be flooded. To say the least, you can't play Rooms like your ordinary sliding tile game.

The spatial reasoning challenge of Rooms is enough to tickle the mind of anyone who likes to crack puzzles. However, the cause and effect reasoning portion of Rooms is as intellectual as torch plus dynamite equals boom. The way you solve obstacles is like something out of a Warner Brothers cartoon. I also noticed that the objects had a few bugs with their functioning, but HandMade could later add a downloadable patch to fix that.

Second only to the innovative gameplay, Rooms has a unique and captivating ambience. The art style is unabashedly mixed (and sometimes choppy) media: photographs, video, and low-pixel objects are tied together by a tone of urban isolation, playful intrigue, and a little bit of surrealism. Although the graphics may be two-dimensional and low-quality, I noticed that they have an artist's touch that gives them that spark of life or magic.

The sound effects and music support the overall feel of the game. The theme song of Rooms, an esoteric waltz, enchanted me right from the beginning. The only downside of the music is that there is only the one song for the entire game.

Rooms is too short. After my second day of playing, I suddenly reached the final level and then the game was over. Top games are the kind that people want to buy to play more than two days. At least Rooms is free.

Also, Rooms is like a mystery game with only a vague hint at a mystery that you don't solve. You only run through the puzzles like a mouse in a maze. I know it's a lot to demand from a puzzle game, but spoiled by the intriguing atmosphere, I want Rooms to give me a storyline too. Maybe I'm thinking of the Myst series.

The creativity of Rooms is what makes this game a little bit of an escape to a fantasy world in addition to a challenging puzzle. The limitations in game length and variety are what keep Rooms at a 4/5 instead of a 5. Rooms shines more as a concept, a pilot for a better game to come, than as a complete game. The sequel, Rooms: The Main Building, is coming soon and honestly I can't wait to try that one.

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