Pipe Mania
Robosoft/Virtual Programming
64.8 MB
$4.99
Pipe Mania may be a game that some people remember from back in 1987 and since then it has been released on PC, Nintendo DS/Wii, PSP, and now for the iPhone and iPod Touch. I have never played Pipe Mania,
ever, on any platform, so with that in mind I was extremely impressed and very happy with what Robosoft was able to create. You get
pieces of pipes and have to place them so that
the flooze can travel
from one end to the other. Some pipe pieces won't exactly fit into your pipe structure, so you either have to put them to the side or create another path. You don't get forever to lay pipe though, the flooze
starts pouring out the pipe after about 45 seconds so you must build
your pipes fast. There is also a distance requirement you have to
achieve in order to beat the level, and the longer your pipe
the more points you will receive. The more points you receive, the
better the medal you will receive (i.e. 2,500 for a silver medal). You
can also speed up the outpour of the flooze to gain extra points. The levels will change from controlling pipes, to Sewers, Railroads, Factories, Internets, and Super Pipes. The game offers four different game mode including World, Arcade, Bonus and Classic. World mode has a story line and several different worlds that you need to navigate through. Arcade mode has moving backgrounds limiting you placement of pipes to the area shown on your screen. Both Bonus and Classic modes just seem to contain more levels for the player to enjoy.
Graphics and polish is all very nicely done. Menus, loading screen, etc. are all nicely designed to fit the whole pipe
theme. Level select screens are also easy to use and figure out. Each
world is laid out like, well, a world and you can select each world
with a tap of a finger. A new update to the game made the menu navigation a lot easier and gave a much nicer feel to the game menus. The graphics are nicely done and well designed.
All in all, I found this game to be quite enjoyable. I'm guessing that
people who haven't played this game but want a nice puzzle game will
like this one, and the puzzles are puzzling. Who knew making pipes were
so difficult? The gameplay is similar to the likes of Tetris in the way
that the pipe
pieces are chosen for you and you must match it with other pieces. So
far, the experience has been a good one and the polish is just the
icing on the cake to make it fun. One thing I did find though is that
the game is a bit difficult with no difficulty settings, and for casual
gamers it might be a little hard to understand at first. The basic
pipes in the beginning are a nice help, but the descriptions and
tutorial can get confusing. Once you get it down, it'll be worth the
$4.99 asking price, but again, some people will find this game
difficult and frustrating.
9/10 - A well rounded game lacking a few touches (such as difficulty settings).
