Neenites Review

Neenites? What's a Neenite? Allow me to enlighten; according to the developers of this little puzzle game, the Neenites are an alien race that are interested solely in exploring the universe. They're cute little things, purple in color with big googly eyes, funnel-shaped ears and a distinct lack of any other facial features. That said, their adorable nature could soon wear off upon playing. It's the players job to get them to their rocket ship, and that can get frustrating.

The basic premise is to navigate a Neenite around a series of blocks until he (or she, I guess) reaches the spaceship block. He'll then be able to fly off the screen in his ship and take on the next level. It reminds me of those labyrinth like puzzle games in kids' activity books in a way, expect imagine removing most of the lines and having a more of a free reign. It suddenly becomes a whole lot harder to get to the final destination. Controlling the Neenite is far simpler, though. Swiping up, down, left or right will move him in the desired direction -- he'll keep going in the chosen direction until somethings there to stop him. As is the nature of a zero-gravity environment, I assume.

Perhaps it's my complete lack of any sense of direction that makes this so, but I found some levels very tricky indeed. Bouncing around the same locations over and over in an attempt to get to that spaceship. And the increase in difficulty feels a little off too, I'd often struggle hugely with one level to then beat the next in a matter of seconds, but that could be due to a lucky choice in my first few jumps that made the 'right way' become immediately obvious. Either way, there were certainly times that I would have begged for some kind of hint system. Although there is an option to skip levels when getting stuck on a particular puzzle, not that I needed it (alright, I did).

All in all, it's a fun little game for the more casual player and goes on to introduce some new ideas such as buttons that change the layout of coloured blocks when pressed (making it a little more difficult for people like me). The only real complaint is that the controls take a little while to respond meaning I can't leap back and forth as quickly as I would have liked to. While it's probably not for everyone, those into these puzzle games with quick-fire levels will likely find their 99 cents worth in there with ease.
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