Puddle Review (XBLA)

Recent times have seen arcade title become more complex, in many cases matching up to some retail titles. Ive always felt this moves away from the concept of arcade titles, as in many cases, games are lengthy, not fun and require far too much attention. Fortuntely, Konami’s latest release breaks away from this, as Puddle brings fun, casual gameplay that will leave you feeling extremely satisfied.

In Puddle, your goal is to reach the end of a level with a set amount of liquid. Sounds easy, right? The game has a pretty fair challenge curve, constantly increasing the difficulty for players. This is great as it promises to keep you on your toes.

In a similar way to LocoRoco, players must guide their liquid through the game using only control triggers, which are used to rock the screen left and right. Doing this causes the liquid to slow down or speed up, adding a sort of puzzle aspect to the game, as players carefully plan their next move. Managing the liquids pace in this way is pretty important, as letting it run too fast triggers the trap system, which could potentially cost you the level! For this reason there’s a certain level of patience needed, as rushing just leads to loss and stress.

The games traps aren’t the only challenging aspect in Puddle either, as it constantly introduced puzzles to keep the player on their toes – or triggers in this case. Puzzles certainly take center stage in the game, encouraging you to interact with the game world in as many as you can. If anything, they’re the perfect guide, if a little cryptic.

Puddle is constantly challenging you but to play it fair and worm your way out of a difficult level is a way to skip any them which is the mockingly named “whines”. You only have two whines through your play so don’t use them all at once because you can expect puddle to get much harder. You can still get your whines back by completing the skipped levels and you may sometimes have to do this once reaching a much harder level later on which is a smart way to keep the game difficult while always giving the player options.

Completing a level will either score you Bronze(Cu), Silver(Ag) and of course Gold(Au) medal. These achievements have amusingly been themed around periodic elements, sticking with the core themes of the game. In terms of what makes up the score, players will need to keep an eye on their time, score and liquid volume if they want to get a gold! These medals also add some replayability, as they unlock features in the games “background laboratory” mode.

Background laboratory mode allows you to create wicked background images using the various liquids you unlock through the game. Whilst this mode wont occupy you for long periods of time, it is pretty fun to play about with!

Puddle is a fun, simple game with a challenging twist. You always feel as if you are being challenge further, as the puzzles and challenges that face you constantly change. Puddle isn’t exactly unique as there is a ton of games that use similar mechanics, but still, it manages to provide a nice casual experience. Puddle is a must buy if you’re looking for something to play every so often I can’t see the game lasting you long though, or even keeping you coming back for more.