I Think I'm Stuck.

Puzzle Box is a game created by mat7772

Introduction:

Ohaider everyone, Mash is here again to review yet another game. (Another review. I'm on a roooolll. *insert enthusiasm here* I'm also sorry for invading the first page of the review category with my reviews. xD) Once again, I'll be reviewing another of Mat's games. I've reviewed about 3 or 4 of his games already, I think. Let me try to remember. I've reviewed Smash it, Betrayed, uhm.. I can't remember anymore, but I have reviewed quite a lot of his games and I'm pretty familiar with his game making style and all that. He's also an awesome friend (Though, we need to chat more often. xD) and an awesome game maker as well. If you take a look at his MS profile, you can already see how long his tenure has been here on sploder and how very well experienced he is at making games. He currently has 35 featured games, so he is definitely one of the best game makers out there and he's also one of those people who make some of the most impossible to complete games. That isn't something I'd want to see in Puzzle Box, the game I'm gonna be reviewing today.

Review:

So Puzzle Box starts off with you, stuck in a literal box. (I seriously didn't expect that. Wtf brain.) I found it pretty funny how the sign at the beginning just says, "Welcome to Puzzle Box, get out." That's pretty mean. I just got here and you want me to get out? :/ That sign actually entertained me for a while since it was so contradicting lmao. But I honestly didn't think that you, the player, would 'get out' of the puzzle box by going through the door. Doesn't that make things even worse since your going even deeper into the box and as you progress, it gets a lot more difficult. Anyway, I'll just stray away from that thought. Even if the first level looked like a piece of cake, (It actually was very easy.) it actually had a large impact on me. It made my curiosity go wild. It's like, "Okay, what happens next?" and you're off. The beginning of the game didn't really present a story at first, the story is presented later in the game. As for the thumbnail, I kind of didn't like how it revealed almost everything in the first level. It wasn't a really attractive thumbnail either. That kind of thumbnail wouldn't really encourage me to play, but the title did a good job at convincing me to play. Just reading the peculiar yet pretty cliche sounding title made me really curious.

Was it difficult? Compared to a big portion of Mat's games, not really. (It's a miracle!) It was in between normal and hard. It felt like a really okay difficulty to me. It was just right. The way the difficulty progresses from "just okay" to "help me" difficulty is pretty slow in my opinion, UNTIL you get to level 5. It felt like like humanity just tried to leap into space without a second thought. Anyway, I liked how it was hard enough to give you a challenge and let you stop and think of a while, but at the same time it wasn't that difficult so you wouldn't just give up on the game and ignore it forever. Puzzle Box is only difficult if you try to just delve into the game without thinking. It's a puzzle game for Pete's sake.(That was actually a pretty foolish mistake that I did. I completely forgot it was a puzzle game after all. xD) Without Mat's walkthroughs (I tried to do the game without his walkthroughs as much as possible.) I was able to get to level 6. But with his walkthroughs, I was able to get to level 9. So you could say that I was able to get into 90% of the game, which for me is something I'm very proud of. Is Puzzle Box addictive? Sort of. It was in between "N000!!!11! 1 L057 1 HAZ 70 D0 17 AGA1NNNN!!11eleven!one!!" and "Screw this game. I give up." I think the game is pretty balanced. The levels' puzzles were pretty short so you can just go over and over each level pretty quickly and hassle-free if you die. But if you combine all 11 levels together, it would be such a drag to complete everything again and again.

The placements were astonishing. Everything looked so simple; but it wasn't. The radar may help you, but it'll only help you to a small extent. The blocks, perm blocks, gears, doors, wheels, everything was placed very well. It made the game pretty challenging and fun. I can't really say much here. There seemed to be enough of everything. Except enemies, but even if there were barely any it wouldn't matter. The puzzles themselves are your enemy. I really liked how this game really reminded me of Portal for some reason, though there were barely any portals.(Mat had mentioned that in the final level, it would just be your character going all like "I'm free!" and that might be the reason why it does remind me of it.) Though I doubt that Puzzle Box could be as good as Portal or its sequel, it's still a very excellent game. I'm not a fan of puzzle games because they make me feel really stupid whenever I can't solve a/the puzzle/s. Puzzle Box however, is an exemption. Same goes to the Portal series, though that made me feel extremely stupid. Like Portal, Puzzle Box did make me feel especially stupid, but it was astonishingly amazing to see how all those puzzles worked as I was exploring through the game. The platformer creator is limited, but Mat really did a splendid job on this, the game made me feel that the possibilities of all the sploder game creators are limitless.

As for the design of the game... Okay, I wasn't really able to see the design. The whole game was dark and I had to use a powerglove as my main source of light since I did have to move around and move other things as well. (I really wished you could use the torch at the same time, but that would ruin all the fun.) There was barely any design from what I've seen. It was simple, but that's okay. I couldn't really feel the "plainness" of the game since all I was doing was cursing at the screen whilst playing through the game. But, the scenery objects that Mat did add into the game just made the whole thing a lot more difficult. It was challenging looking through the radar and knowing where you're supposed to go when the other objects shown on screen were just decorations. It was a pretty smart move. No, it was a VERY smart move. But, I would really like it though if Mat had put a bit more effort onto the game's design. As for the creativity, Puzzle Box was very, VERY creative. It's so creative you couldn't even call the game creative anymore, you'd have to think of a new word to describe how creative it is. Perm block puzzle? Sounds easy. But Mat went all like, "Nope, I'll make it even more difficult than it already was with all these wheels!" It just made me go like, "ASDFGHJKL:', STAHP PLS." It was still frustratingly fun at times though, despite the game being a tad bit difficult. Some concepts were pretty old, especially for the main concept of getting out of a box. But Mat was able to change the whole definition of simply "escaping." Everything felt really unique and new.

Pros:

-Very creative

-Amazing puzzles

-Placements were very well thought of.

-Title itself gives off a large impact/impression on the person who sees it.

Cons:

-Scenery could have been improved.

-Not so addictive

-Game is too long

Ratings:

NEEDS MOAR SCENERY. Nuff' said.

Simple and flawless.

Very original, except for the fact that there are too much "escape the box/room" type of games around.

Addictiveness was kind of meh for me. Needs to be more fun.

It wasn't too easy, nor too hard for the most part of the game. But, the difficulty progressed in a weird and let's say "uneven" way.

Conclusion:

Puzzle Box is definitely a game worth playing. Everyone should try playing it, even just once. It's a game that would definitely make you think and have some fun at the same time despite its lack of visually appealing scenery. Then again, it's dark the whole time anyway, why bother about the scenery? xD Mat, you have done it once again. Your game has once again gone high above my standards for a good game. Puzzle Box definitely deserves a feature in my honest opinion. (Anyone who disagrees with me will be kill- jk.) Mat, I don't know why you always ask me to review your games, but I do enjoy doing so. Every game you make has the ability to pique my interest whenever I see them. Though I haven't played all your games, I know they're excellent and one of a kind. Keep making these great games and you might just get 35 games in the EGL as well. (Dreaming and hoping for that won't hurt anyone, wouldn't it? xD) Anyway, I hope you all liked my review and thanks once again for actually reading this. (You know, if you actually decided to read the whole thing. You don't get no interwebz cookie if you didn't. :P If you did, you can have one. :3) This is Mash, going to continue making my super duper top secret new game. (Oh... I guess it's not a secret no more. Screw that. xD)