Next-Gen Reviews

MouseCraft Review

I haven’t played a Lemmings game properly since my Atari ST days and I haven’t played Tetris for a couple of years, now; so when I first heard that there was a puzzle game releasing that was a cross between Tetris and Lemmings, I was very excited.

 

MouseCraft star a Crazy Cat-Scientist that is trying to create a super, mice-powered machine and three blind mice that you have to help get to the cheese, This is done by carefully placing Tetris-like blocks so that the mice are indeed, able to get to the cheese.

The mice act like Lemmings in the way that they will walk back-and-forth until they have a 1-block step that they can climb, and they will continue to walk until they come to a wall, the edge of the level or they have arrived at the cheese. And the bricks act similar to the ones we have all used in Tetris – they can be rotated and placed where an open spot lies and the obvious idea is to place them in such a way to allow mice to reach the cheese. It’s a simple premise in writing, but hard in action.

 

Similar to the very famous “Angry Birds” you start off with relatively easy levels and slowly progress to mind-bending puzzles that have you thinking for long periods of time. Again, like Angry Birds, you are rewarded depending on the amount of completion that you have managed for example; getting all three mice to the cheese and collecting all of the shards. If at the end of each section (about 20 levels) you have enough shards, you can progress, and if not, you better go back and get some more.

 

Talking about progression; not only are you slowly introduced to harder puzzles such as ensuring that the bricks are placed in the correct place at the correct time rather than just the correct place, you’re also introduced to different brick types and environment issues. These include – Bricks that are made up of dynamite that once touched, explode within 3 seconds - electricity bricks that kill mice on touch, crumbling bricks that crumble after a second mouse touches it and water, which not only conducts electricity but also drowns the mice if they are in the water for 10 seconds.All of these game-changers add a unique feel and have you studying the best way to get the most reward out of the level. It’s great!

 

If you’ve played Lemmings you’ll be familiar with how slow they moved and how long it took for the stranded one to get to its destination.Thankfully, you have the ability to speed up the time and also pause the game if you need time to place bricks or destroy them using bombs that mice can collect. This obviously makes the game more bearable in those guaranteed frustrating times that you will encounter.

 

MouseCraft is for the puzzle-lover and completionist. Yes, you can complete each level with relative ease if you’re happy to settle for the bare minimum - i.e. 1 mouse at the cheese, but the real reward is when you fully complete a level after having worked out its brutal challenge. Oif you aren’t willing to go for the absolute best score, you’re cheating yourself out of the real pleasure of the game. However, it will be a tedious task that I’m sure you’ll get bored of.

 

There is nothing “really bad” about MouseCraft, but I do get the term “The Camel is a Horse designed by committee” come to mind quite a bit. MouseCraft’s selling point is that it is a mix of two brilliant games, but it never really pulls off the greatness that Tetris and Lemmings did on their own. MouseCraft is fun for a bit, but it soon gets boring.

 

 

6/10