Simple interface, challenging puzzles. That's the bread and butter of any truly addictive puzzle game. Yeti CGI's new title Fracture has this "easy to learn, hard to master" formula down pat. Simply click the little blue dot to send it from point to point in each starry constellation tracing simple geometric shapes. That's the easy part. The hard part is tracing each shape while not repeating yourself. Do it once and get a score deduction. Do it twice and lose the line forever. If you've found yourself hooked on mellow puzzlers like 2048 or its deluge of imitators in the past few weeks, Fracture is going to be right up your alley.
The folks at Yeti CGI have crafted an extremely minimalistic experience, but done it with such care it becomes compelling. Cute, basic sound effects reward each completed shape. You start reacting to every success with a little Pavlovian endorphin high. This, of course, makes every failure all the more rage-inducing. You'll palm your forehead more than once trying to wrap your brain around the increasingly complex pathways. Later levels feature even more obstacles, like tiny red dots that meander across the lines, causing instant failure if you touch them and forcing you adapt your carefully planned route on the fly. This would be a hell of a time waster if there were a mobile version (hint hint, Yeti CGI!). As it stands, Fracture gives you exactly as much as you're willing to give it. It might not break the bank the way 2048 did, but it's got charm and challenge and really, what else do you want from a puzzler?
Through the first good couple of levels - no challenge factor whatsoever. No even real thinking required - you just set off and go where you can - and most probably you're gonna solve the puzzle.
Maybe the later levels present more challenge ("more"? Any at all...), but TBH, these early levels were too boring to go on :(
I liked it right up until the little red dot thingy. That changed it from "puzzle game" to "action game" in my opinion. I quit at that level.
I didn't quit, but I did not like the addition of the red enemies either. That completely ruins what started out as a fun and excellent puzzle game. Having to keep an eye on enemies while you're trying to figure out the right way to go, that's a big no no.
And for those wondering, the number of enemies increase at some points until the very last level where you end up with 4 enemies. Yes, 4.
1/5 mushrooms, because of the enemies.
While I didn't like the presence of the enemies one bit, I can understand why they were added. Without them, the game is laughably easy and feels like a chore more than anything else.
Even though the core mechanic poses no challenge on its own, it could work as a "making quick decisions under pressure" kind of thing. Too bad the enemies fail to provide said pressure and work either as random chance or as a ball and chain, slowing you down for no good reason.
It is still a test of patience: if you play normally and happen to lose, it feels like it's due to bad luck rather than a mistake on your part. So rather than improve somehow you'll have to merely try again hoping for a better outcome. And if you play it safe and have the red dots follow you closely (and therefore predictably), it works very reliably, but takes absolutely forever.
I don't know, the whole thing might've worked much better as a turn-based game, with clear rules for the enemy movement.
I'm unable to play it for some reason - I get the title screen with a "play" button, but it doesn't respond and there doesn't seem to be a flash object when I right click on it. Clearing my cache and reloading doesn't help.
Yeti CGI - I really love this game and a have few pieces of constructive feedback which would make it even better:
1 - don't make later levels locked until previous levels are completed. The diligent player will come back and 'check off' all levels to 'win', but the casual player may just struggle with one level - and miss out on playing the rest of the levels as a result.
2 - consider different options for the red dot:
Variable Speed (or option to turn off) - my click speed is not quick enough on the more detailed levels, and this quickly becomes frustrating rather than challenging.
Pattern Trace instead of Random - if the red dot moved in a consistant pattern each time, part of the challenge would be to complete each step of your planned route in the right timing to avoid the dot - providing an extra level of challenge, without the frustration of randomness.
I had the same problem. Do you have a touchscreen? For some reason, it didn't recognize my mouse pointer, but I was able to play by tapping the screen.
The game was great for the first few levels. My strategy was to trace the outline and then go inward with the same technique, but then the red dot came. I quit then and there. It was a great concept, but the dot ruined it.
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