Games Press is very handy sometimes. News can be bland and every other site picks it up and outputs it faster than a cake being thrown at Katie Price, but sometimes there is a diamond in the rough. In this instance, the diamond was that Triangle Studios were giving away Heron: Steam Machine free for one weekend only. After tweeting, facebooking and talking(???) this out to the world, the game was on my phone ready for some investigative thinking.
Steam Machine is a pipe game and for those that don’t understand what that means, the premise is simple. Turn different shaped pipes to connect to other pipes to allow a liquid to flow from one side of the screen to the other. Simple non? That is the addictive quality of Steam Machine right there. It is so simple that you can end up wondering how you did not manage to last longer. A premise most men fall fowl to in the bedroom. Ho Ho Hmmm.
The graphics for the game are colourful and the music perfectly compliments it and the story that is set out at the start is an interesting idea for a puzzle game, but it is not pursued further. I don’t think I will ever overthrow the evil son of the company, I have never had a back bone for that but I am most happy in turning pipes. And turn pipes you do.
Steam Machine can become pretty frantic in parts when your valves are reaching boiling point. As a player, you have to pass the water through various power ups that start to litter the screen to cope with this massacre of pressure. These power ups include Time Bonus Pipes and Bombs and they help you defeat the pressure by reducing it. If you can manage to link all of these up in one go, then you’ve made it halfway to beating the game.
Steam Machine also supports the wonderful PLUS+ achievement system, a rival to Open Feint, which also gives the user achievements and leaderboards. If a game does not support this functionality, then its chances off success within the iPhone world is between slim and none.
Sadly for those who missed out, Steam Machine is now back to full price, however, I would urge users to buy this game. The only disappointment I have with the game is the lack of variety, however I do sympathise as the developers have added lifespan through the achievement system. As a 59p/$.99 game, it is well worth the download and is a diamond in the colloquial roughness of the AppStore.
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