Saturday, December 21, 2013

THE ROOM



Another proof of the superb design you can find in portable devices: The Room is probably the best puzzle game I've played ever.

On the minus side, it's just puzzles: There are no other subsystems to provide some relief from the core experience. Also the game is relatively short, only 5 levels of 30 min each.

On the plus side, the game features a unique approach to puzzles: All the secrets are contained in the same object, generally a wooden box with multiple gadgets. The wandering for the necessary items is really limited and often straight forward. Puzzles are surprisingly varied, enjoyable and accessible (I never had to look for solutions in the internet) and the concept of all puzzles in the same location supports a high quality of the graphics (you can be as detailed as you want since there won't be any other scenario).

There are some flavor elements surrounding the game: A paranormal plot which doesn't offer much and a supporting system for clues (similar to the one used in the Professor Layton series). But the core mechanics work very well, the camera is fairly responsive and the overall experience is one of a kind. I strongly recommend it to whoever like puzzle games.

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