Movin' Maze

It must be very difficult for developers to come up with new puzzle game ideas, but it's hard to be sympathetic, frankly, because for every one that appears we have to find a new way of writing an interesting, off-beat introductory paragraph about them which avoids the cliché trap of saying, "Gosh, isn't there a lot of them, and aren't they all quite similar to each other?"

Movin' Maze is another, this time from the resurgently productive IG Fun stable. From the screenshots you'll no doubt be expecting nothing new: for a start, there are blocks. Like the introduction to this review, however, it's actually quite an original idea, touched with genius in places, even if it's not particularly satisfactory in the final analysis.

You play as Froo, a flubby (sic) ball trapped inside a maze of blocks that, for some reason, variously move in whichever direction you choose to move. When you roll left, say, every block on the screen with a left-pointing arrow follows suit, and the same goes for moving up, down, and right. If a block is already pushed up against a solid surface, the arrow changes direction so that when you next roll the other way it comes with you.

That's the basic game mechanic. The goal of each level is to reach a little house by navigating your way through this uncooperatively mutable maze. As you advance, more elements appear, such as the necessity to reach a key to remove a padlock, laser beams that need to be interrupted by moving a block in their way, and 'turn tiles', which rotate whichever block you place over them.

Eventually, there are even enemies to deal with: angry red balls that roll inexorably towards you if you negligently move in the wrong direction when they're situated on your vertical or horizontal axis. Strangely, however, these numerous obstacles aren't nearly as difficult as simply navigating the maze efficiently is.

While it's possible to work out where all of the blocks will move every time you do, there are so many that in practice it's a demanding requirement. While you're rolling around to realign a few blocks just beside you, the other side of the level is changing shape as well, and few will have the brainpower to coordinate everything optimally.

Perhaps in acknowledgement of this, it's possible to get through the levels by dint of sheer persistence, cutting through the complexity with blunt force, like Alexander and the Gordian knot.

At the beginning of every level the game lets you know the fewest number of moves it has been completed in by a mysterious record-holder, but far from seriously constraining you this merely serves as a suggestion of what you might like to aim for, if you like, if it's not too much trouble. If you don't succeed, the only cost is a few points, and the vast majority of players will forfeit them and grope their way to an undistinguished, spongy kind of victory.

Of course, conscientious players won't play it like this. They'll consider every move carefully, trying to equal the game's records, and approached in this way Movin' Maze is a deceptively deep and satisfying puzzler. If the visuals were up to date and the core mechanic better implemented this would have been a real contender, and so we sincerely hope the idea bears fruit in a more considered sequel.