Posts Tagged ‘ Games ’

Puzzles keep the mind healthy

March 21, 2006
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A study to be published by Popcap Games and Games for Health suggests that playing casual games and doing puzzles can help you brain stay healthy. The linked article quotes Games for Health co-founder Ben Sawyer as saying: “defined cognitive exercise can play a critical role in healthy aging.”

Of course, Popcap Games has a monetary interest here since they are makers of puzzle games. But from what I read in the article Games for Health seems very serious about doing research in this area and they note that they’ve really only scratched the surface. Their site is interesting; it’s essentially a blog about game related health issues. As it stands right now, I’d say that their project is very interesting, even if this latest research isn’t all that ground-breaking.

Flash puzzle games

March 20, 2006
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I’ve encountered a couple flash puzzle games on the internet that I would put in the “do things in the right order to complete the puzzle” category. The two games are Hapland (through the Dumb: The Game site) and Warbears (through Yunikos Special Storage — warning: there’s a solution on this site). The games both involve an environment that you interact with in specific ways. For example, you might click a warbear and have him throw a grenade or you might click a stick figure in hapland and have him fire a cannon. The set of things that you can do is limitted and you probably need to do them all at some point, you just have to know when. Of course, trial and error can lead you through the game, but there are often clues to indicate what you should do next and that’s where the puzzle comes in. The games are fairly diverting and should only require 15-20 minutes of your time. They remind me in some ways of an old computer game I used to play called Gobliiins.

Untangling the web

March 15, 2006
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PlanarityI found a nice, simple puzzle game through Bernie DeKoven’s FunLog that’s sure to please anyone who feels a great sense of satisfaction after untangling a mass of yarn. The game is called Planarity and it involves a series of points that are connected by lines. At the start of each level, the points are arranged in the shape of a circle and the lines cross in a random pattern. The object is to rearrange the points such that none of the lines cross. Each level has more points than the last making each level increasingly difficult. Puzzles generally take a few minutes to solve (the first can probably be solved in seconds–more difficult levels take longer) and I like the fact that you can skip ahead to harder levels if you want to.

Rotation – Puzzle Games

March 5, 2006
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I always enjoy simple flash games, so I was pleased to find out about the game Rotation through the Random Good Stuff blog.

The playing area is a hexagon containing colored marbles with faces. When you click on a marble the six marbles surrounding it all rotate counter-clockwise. The goal is to match the smaller layout to the upper right. You have a limitted number of moves to solve each level and the levels become more difficult as you advance.

Anyone who likes mechanical games, like the Rubik’s Cube, should be interested. The main problem that I see with the game is that you can’t save your progress, so you may have to replay less exciting early levels to get to the puzzle you want to play.

Puzzloop

February 25, 2006
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I read over on N-Sider about a new puzzle game called Magnetica that will be released for Nintendo DS. It seems to be identical to a Japanese game called Puzzloop. I’ve never played Puzzloop but, from what I’ve read and the screenshots I’ve seen, it seems that there’s a flash game called “Bear and Cat” based on it which i have often played. (Note: Bear and Cat is not an English game, but it should be easy for puzzle solvers to figure out how to play. Also, I’d love it if anyone can tell why there’s a cat mentioned in the title.)

The game involves a line of colored spheres that travel in a fixed path, inching ever closer to your submarine. You destroy the spheres by shooting other colored spheres into the line. If you create a row of three or more of the same color the spheres explode. But if the line of spheres reaches your sub, you die. It’s fun, addictive, and worth a look.

Enigmo 2

February 22, 2006
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A brief description of a new puzzle game called Enigmo 2 was recently posted on The Unofficial Apple Weblog. I decided I would download the demo and give it a try.

This is the kind of puzzle game that is ideal for people with engineering minds. It requires you to build “machines” to accomplish specific tasks. The tasks basically involve redirecting water, plasma, and lasers to the appropriate recepticles. Each element has different properties, moves in a different way, and is redirected differently than the others. The water drops straight down and can be redirected with small discs that bounce the water in a parabolic arc in a new direction. Lasers travel in straight lines unless they are reflected with mirrors. Plasma also travels in a straight line, but its path can only be changed by black spheres that work like a gravity well for the plasma.

Along the way you may have to make your laser strike a specific panel to start the flow of plasma. Or you may need to send your water through a cylinder to turn off a force field. Additionally the machines work in three dimensions which adds for some interesting twists. Manipulating the puzzle in 3D can be a little challenging at first, but the interface is actually quite well done and easy to use.

The demo only lets you play the first few levels which are only very basic puzzles (only the last one actually requires you to do anything in 3D.) But if its done well (and it seems like it is), future levels should include some interesting logic puzzles. To play all of the levels, you need to pay $29.95 for a serial number. And, unfortunately for many, it only runs on Mac OS X.
Overall, I was impressed. One or two really challenging puzzles added to the demo would have completely sold me. As it is, you only get a very basic feel.

Perplex City – An alternate reality puzzle game

February 14, 2006
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I’ve been reading up about the puzzle game called Perplex City, which was blogged about on boingboing (here and here) and Shiny Shiny.
At its heart, the game involves solving puzzles but, in execution, it draws from the following genres:

  1. Collectible card games – of which Magic is the best example. To play Perplex City, you buy packs of 6 cards that have puzzles on them. Each card has an individual puzzle and the cards can be combined to form other puzzles. Some of the cards are harder to find than others and, presumably, you will have to collect all of the cards to win.
  2. Alternate reality games – like the ones used in the marketing for the movie A.I. or the game Halo 2. These games involve clues that are hidden in the real world. Characters that you can contact and that will contact you back. And fictitious web sites that look like they’re set up by real people.
  3. A treasure hunt – with an object hidden in the real world that you have to find.

The winner gets $200,000, which will certainly be incentive for many to play. Of course, you’re likely to sink a lot of time and money into the game in order to even have a shot at winning.