by Val Bonney

Created on: January 15, 2008

Rooms - Review

Right, let's start with the positives. Rooms is an innovative game unlike any I have ever played before. Loosely based on the good old slider puzzles, each level is made up of half a dozen or more "rooms" (IE. boxes) which you must move around the screen until they are in the correct position. You move the character through these rooms until he can leave via the Exit door.

This is not as straightforward as it sounds, as there are different obstacles to overcome, such as blocked walls, fires and flooded rooms. There are also keys and various other objects to collect along the way, which are necessary for completing the levels. Certain items are available to assist you in some levels, such as a transportation telephone, ladders to reach upper rooms and even a bus!

The graphics are simple, but quite charming in a picture-story-book kind of way, and the single character is an animated photograph of a teenage boy in a long black cloak. This, coupled with the slightly haunting music, gives the game something of a Harry Potter quality. There is little else in the way of sound effects worth mentioning.

The puzzles themselves are very simple to begin with, but become much more taxing as the game progresses. There is no Help button available, other than general guidance on playing the game, and I did eventually get bored with one scene that I couldn't solve so I gave up and uninstalled the game.

Which leads me on to the negatives. There are quite a few. Most importantly, in my view, is the poor level of translation into English. This was mildly amusing in the first couple of instances, but quickly became very tiresome and made it difficult to understand instructions, especially in the beginning.

The game-play has the potential to be really good, but needs a lot of fine tuning: the character gets stuck in some positions and can't move, meaning you have to restart the level; items cannot be employed unless the character is in a very precise position, which soon becomes annoying and interferes with game-play enjoyment; the Back to Lobby button didn't work and the timer seemed to be ineffectual - it goes backwards but never seems to come to an end! Also, if you forget to take note of the password for a particular level you will have to start again from the beginning, as there is no Save facility.

In conclusion, Rooms is a good idea that could be a great puzzle game. Unfortunately, it still feels like it is in the development stage and not yet ready for public consumption. So, would I buy the full product? If the above negative issues were addressed and some more time spent on fine tuning, then at the right price yes, I would, as I do think it is something new and different. As it is at the moment though, definitely not.

Rating - at the moment, 2/5

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