I ‘m convinced there ‘s a formula that turns a regular glass touch screen into a tiny window to another fascinating world, and I ‘m convinced the Kieffer Bros used it on Aqueduct, the latest addition to their already impressive puzzle game lineup.
The objective of each level is to guide water from a faucet into a drain, and it ‘s up to you to re-arrange the pipes on the screen to make it happen. But the gameplay isn ‘t just water under the bridge, it ‘s water through the Aqueduct, and there ‘s something very tactile and magical about this $2.99 touchscreen title.
The Puzzle
It ‘s difficult to come up with a completely new game type, but you can make great mash-ups of older concepts. Aqueduct plays like a mix of Pipeline (without the time pressure) and Mosaic (without the claustrophobia I always experience), and although the levels can get quite elaborate later on, they never gave me a headache. I ‘m also pretty sure that the difficulty has been scaled down for puzzle idiots like me, so that complicated doesn ‘t necessarily feel like impossible.
The game starts off simply enough: tap on sections of pipe, drag them into place, and trigger the water flow to end the level. You ‘ll learn about new mechanics ” teleporters, bridges, switches, and doors ” naturally, and in a very similar fashion to the way Valve Software does things on the PC. Certain levels are designed with exactly one thing to learn, but no written instructions to tell you how stuff works. It ‘s like Kinder ” well, Aquagarten, but that ‘s just on the first ‘chapter ‘ (there are six in total – enough to last a good 3-6 hours, depending on how fast you are).
The Presentation
I don ‘t want to go overboard with descriptions here. Aqueduct is a simple puzzle title at heart, but I ‘d say it ‘s that heart that has gotten me to play it for so long (I ‘m about halfway through).
There ‘s quite a lot of detail for you to enjoy if you ‘re a fan of gaming, or good iPhone app design.
All the pipe and bridge sections move perfectly when you drag them, and they snap satisfyingly into place when you let go of them. Teleporters look great and never once make you wonder where your pipe piece just went, and rocks ” well, they just sit there very convincingly. These are all small touches, but they go a long way towards making the game feel more tactile (which is something I loved about Lexic ” err, Abca). Simply put: there ‘s a weight to everything you manipulate in Aqueduct, and it makes it fun to just play with the puzzle pieces.
The Saved Game
The game doesn ‘t support iOS 4 Fast App Switching right now, but it does feature its own built-in state saving (good news for folks who are barred from the new OS). Your game progress is saved at seemingly every step, so you ‘ll never lose your place after a phone call or text message.
Conclusion
I ‘ve had a lot of fun with Aqueduct thus far, and I fully intend on completing every puzzle. The game ‘s relaxed nature, soothing (almost white noise-y) soundtrack, and playful art style make it a great mental retreat. I really don ‘t want to be too dramatic here, but I like to think of the Aqueduct experience as playing Pipeline and Mosaic simultaneously…with the puzzle pieces made out of condensed rainbow bits moulded by the hands of angels…and then dipped in chocolate.
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Aqueduct is available for $2.99 on the App Store.
The game was provided by the Kieffer Bros. for review on Just Another iPhone Blog. For further information regarding our site’s review policies, please see the “About” page.
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TAGS: iphone puzzle game, kieffer bros
