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American McGee's
Crooked House
(iPod, iPhone, & iPad)
Surf on over to iTunes, to
buy this game "App"!
There was a crooked man,
He went a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence
beside a crooked stile;
He bought a crooked cat,
Which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together
-- in a little crooked house...
This excerpt from a popular children's rhyme could only be
made into an enjoyable video game, if it came from American McGee. Ever
since American McGee's Alice, I have been amazed with how deftly
McGee can take a classic children's story and make it into a gritty (and
often strongly "M for Mature") story for the older generation. Here McGee
does his magic yet again, for an engaging puzzle game called American
McGee's Crooked House.
The concept is simple in puzzle terms: get the little
mouse from the left side of the screen to the right. How? By moving various
items around so that they form a staircase, or bridge, or whatever else the
mouse needs to cross. The "catch"? Any of these giant items ---books, test
tubes, and so on--- can easily kill the mouse if they slide into him. This
is a very major puzzle rule, since the items keep sliding until stopped by a
wall, or other obstacle. You have to "shuffle" these items through the
obstacles, to the bottom of the screen, without hurting the mouse. Good luck
with that one; much like every good puzzle game, this is easy to learn, and
difficult to master!
Here is the good news: this game "App" offers a lot of
leeway. For one thing: the time limit per puzzle is more than fair. While
you cannot "undo" a mistake, you can easily reset the puzzle, which resets
the timer as well (fortunately!). The mouse, meanwhile, does not move until
you "tap" him. Yet best of all: you can choose between two methods to move
items on the screen. You can either choose to "tilt" the device to move the
items from side to side, or you can choose to tap-and-swipe. Oh, and in case
you get really, really stuck: a "hint" option shows you what one possible
solution looks like when completed, though not how to reach that solution. I
love it when "hints" are simply that: hints!
Adding to the fun is the attention to detail. The
backgrounds, animations, sound FX, and background music are all excellent
here. However, for the really queasy: yes this is an American McGee game, so
that means killing the mouse leads to a very grisly death animation, indeed.
Then again; after it happens for the first time, you are even more
determined to save the little guy! Yet best of all: killing him is not a
major "game over," or at least, not for you(!); replaying the current level
is just a click away.
There are only minor nitpicks here, though they do drag
the final rating of the game a little. For one: there are indeed many levels
here, though not much in the way of variety. There are "bookshelf" levels,
"lab" levels, and "kitchen" levels, each with their own themed backgrounds
and items to slide (the bookshelf, obviously, is filled with mostly books to
slide, while the kitchen has dishwasher bubbles, and so on). While each of
these three areas has around 20 levels apiece: it isn't enough variety for
my buck, though hey; I guess I am just so intrigued at this game's graphic
design, I wanted to see even more of this house!
---Techtite
Click
picture to order this game (DS)
| All text, Title
graphics, and pix not of reviewed product, are created by Techtite,
copyright 1999-2010; all rights reserved. Screen captures of program
reviewed are discrete thumbnails, used only for the purpose of
review, and by no means represent any affiliation with Techtite and the distributors of that product. For further "legalese"
& disclaimers, click here... |
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