Meltdown

Our Review by Christine Morris on March 14th, 2009
Rating: starstarstarstarstar :: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
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In this game, you need to build a path to save the city from the nuclear waste that has been released from a faulty reactor. There is also a puzzle mode, which is really where it becomes a great challenge and slightly unusual from the other pipe style ga

Developer: Stickfish Studios, LLC
Price: $4.99
Version Reviewed: 1.0.1

Graphics / Sound [rating:5/5]
Game Controls [rating:4/5]
Gameplay [rating:5/5]

Re-use / Replay Value [rating:5/5]

Overall Rating: starstarstarstarstar

In this game, you need to build a path to save the city from the nuclear waste that has been released from a faulty reactor. There is also a puzzle mode, which is really where it becomes a great challenge and slightly unusual from the other pipe style games.

Good things about this game vary from the colours and actual styling of it. It's a very nice looking interface, and fun to play. There is an instruction screen that you can read before you start the game play.

It has Mission and Puzzle modes. For the mission game, you are given the start and end squares and then you have to lay down the pipes just like the traditional way. This is set against a timer so you have to think quick. There is then a little path switch to start the flow, when your tunnels are built. This is also timed though so you need to hurry before it starts to leek. The longer and more complex your conduits are, the more points you will get.

You click and drag each piece (conduits) onto the grid. Once you let go of it, it is then in place. You can place a new one on top thou if you have misplaced it. It has a save feature, and you can resume your saved games to play them later which is great. Also has a highscores screen so you can see your name, your score and what level you made it to.

I really liked this game, sure it is a theme of an already existing game, but its a nice looking theme. and the added mode of puzzle is fantastic. This is where the game has a lot more to offer then maybe some others already out there.

In the puzzle mode, there is a filled screen of all the puzzle pieces. You then have to twist the pieces in their place, to move them so they form the perfect path for the waste. This is really fun, and pretty quickly it gets very challenging.

I spent more time in this mode then on the regular game play. Some of the harder levels can be really challenging, so they have also got (on the left hand side of the screen) a 'highlight' button you can press. When pressed, it highlights the route that the waste will travel down. This may sound like an easy cheat, but it is timed, so even that you have to use sparingly, and certainly not at the start of the level.

The first time playing it, it's a little confusing about where the waste is coming from and where you need to get it to. (This is possibly because I initially chose to not view the instructions, I just wanted to get straight into it.) Also laying the pieces down was a little difficult to figure out on the first go.

These types of games I think really benefit from an in game mini tutorial. So as something new comes on screen, it tells you how / where to place it. This only takes a small amount of your time, but you will be able to get into the game far faster.

Overall, although its nothing new in the way of format, I think its got some great features over other current games in this style. I loved the puzzle mode and the clean crisp graphics. I will be playing this over and over!

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