108 people found this review helpful
Recommended
0.0 hrs last two weeks / 0.9 hrs on record
Posted: Feb 23, 2014 @ 2:27pm
Updated: Feb 23, 2014 @ 2:28pm

The follow-up to Chip's Challenge for the Atari Lynx and Windows 3.1. You can tell it was optimized for things like iOS and Android, but this is still a worthwhile follow-up to the original tile-based puzzler.

I must mention: The menus, the characters, and the levels elements are like an oversized dollop of cottage cheese: big and chunky. Plus the navigation of menus is just odd, where you use the mouse like you would a finger on a touchscreen. But PC optimization issues aside, it's your job to solve the puzzles as Woop. And yeah, he's no Chip, but the little bugger does have charm, I'll give him that.

As for the gameplay, well, it's Chip's Challenge 2.0, and that's precisely why I threw my money at the screen in the first place. If you're not familiar with that game, it's a tile-based Sokoban-like game where you have an area filled with locked doors and hazards, and it’s your goal to collect the required items before exiting the level. For the most part, it's the same game with new puzzles and a new look. Like, you're not collecting chips here, but little glowing blue things, and the enemies look totally different. But a lot of the puzzle elements are the same, like water, fire, ice, moving floors, etc. And you still have the same types of power-ups that let you circumvent these hazards where appropriate. There are five sets of levels to complete with 25 levels each, but the first selection more or less follows the rules of the original game. When you move beyond those, the game really starts to open up into its own thing, with a slew of new enemies, hazards, and puzzle components. It never has to give you a dumb tutorial either, since the rules of upcoming levels are clearly laid out for you with an easier level earlier on. But don't let the first set of levels fool you, this game can be just as brutal as its predecessor.

Well sort of. It's a bit easier as well, with the ability to take back any number of moves at any time. This means you don't necessarily have to restart the entire level if you screw up, so no bummers here. Time keeps ticking while you do this, but it's far less rage-inducing to make a stupid mistake now. It even asks you if you want to skip a level if you suck to the point of shaming your ancestors. The levels are also far smaller than many of those in Chip's Challenge, and I assume this is because of the time and screen size constraints of the mobile version. And when you finish off or rage quit the main game, there's a fully-featured, easy-to-use level editor. You can upload your own or download other people's creations right from within the game. Oh and you can apparently get hats, because freaking hats man, why developers haven't shoehorned them into every game already is beyond me.

Personally, I find Chuck's Challenge to be a perfectly adequate successor to Chip's Challenge. It's more of the same kind of logical puzzle-solving with only a few concessions made for mobile platforms and slightly more forgiving gameplay. But even with a few iffy changes, if you enjoyed the original game or just enjoy these types of logic games, I'd give this one a look.
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