Gerbil, ah, generally a child’s first pet, so how does Pencil Games pay tribute to these small furry wonders? By sticking a bomb under their arse. Okay, don’t go calling PETA just yet, its all in the name of puzzling (plus its a game, and they will laugh down the phone at you, lets all avoid that embarrassment shall we?)!
So whats the aim of the game, surely not torturing small cute animals, no! For some reason these innocent gerbils need to get below a red line on a 2D playing field, your job is to get them there using good old physics (with the help of a few bombs). At the start of each round, the little blighters are stacked in a formation which you have to topple by placing your bombs and then let nature take its course. As you progress through the 24 levels new items become available to you such as ropes used to pull and a disintegration tool. Ah, these tool sound like it makes it easier, nope, also new gerbils are inserted on the field such as huge stone buggers. Add in what I call “the bloody alarm buggers”, gerbils which if you touch will sound an alarm and fail the level, the game becomes a little bit more challenging.
The physics of the game work really well, if a gerbil is stacked under a lot of objects and other gerbils, he will move only a small amount due to the weight, without the burden, well, he will go off like a shot. You never feel like you are being cheated because of a poor physics engine and if something does go awry, its most likely due to human error on your part.
The presentation does remind me of the Worms game, this is mostly due to the sound effects which are nice and cartoon like, with the high pitch tone much like our wiggly friends. The music fits well and is non obtrusive, just a nice chilled out tune in the background which fits nicely. Graphically, the game comes up trumps, the character design is just on the right side of cute without being child like and the landscapes are again nicely rendered.
So, what do I think of the game on the whole? Well for a game developed by two people, I think they have produced something very polished that strikes a good balance of fun and challenge. The only downside is there is a good chance you will have finished the whole game within 2 hours, but for 80 Microsoft points, that complaint is very minor. Please check out the trial version (link below) as I would love to see this converted to the iPhone or even just have a sequel with more puzzles.
You can download the trial and full game here and for more info about Pencil Games, you can click on this link.
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