The Package

We’ve all been in the situation where a much anticipated package has arrived in less than perfect condition.

Sometimes, the level of damage causes you to wonder what horrors your beloved parcel must have been through.

It’s easy to imagine a scenario similar to The Package, which sees the titular object blasted out of a cannon, whacked with a giant mallet, and punched into the air with a sprung boxing glove.

It's all done in the name of getting the package from point A to point B as quickly as possible.

As each level begins, you’re granted a limited set of widgets - the aforementioned gadgets, which also include less violent but equally useful mechanisms such as fans and ramps. Having positioned the widgets, you then press 'play' to release the package, and watch to see if your plan works.

A successful run is extremely satisfying, and while many of the levels have an approximate ‘right’ way to play them, there’s often room for a number of slight variations in approach. Allied to the fact that The Package rarely presents its solutions on a platter, it makes for a stiff challenge.

While there's a degree of trial and error to proceedings, it's hard not to feel slighted on occasion by the inconsistent physics combined with loose level design. Often a prepared level will run differently from one restart to the next, despite not having changed a thing.

It’s laudable that the game possesses such flexibility, but it can mean that you discount certain solutions prematurely.

The score system is also flawed. On a game of this kind, placing the emphasis on speed (your score constantly ticking down like a timer) seems to grate against the general spirit of experimentation.

Still, The Package offers up enough inventive touches and sufficient challenge to warrant further investigation.