Macguide Issue 10
You know that feeling when you've just munched out on some potato chips and you still want more? Powerchips and High roller fit into this category with a shocking amount of ease. Both games are supplied on CD-ROM, with both Mac and PC versions included.
Really Really Addictive
While neither game features the state of the art 3d graphics, they're both really really REALLY addictive (did I mention that they're addictive??). In the interests of field testing, I visited my parents and installed Powerchips and High roller on their machine. Both parents were totally hooked within ten minutes.
So what is it about Powerchips and Highroller that makes for such addictive gameplay? In a nutshell it all comes down to simplicity and a strong focus on engaging gameplay. Take Powerchips for example. Essentially a Tetris hybrid, coloured casino chips of various dollar denominations fall from the top of the screen, building upwards towards a red foul line. Once there, it's all over red rover!
To avoid this, three or more of the same coloured chips arranged vertically, horizontally can be made to disappear with some deft mouse clicking action. Add to the mix power up chips, like the nuke (which demolishes whole swathes of chips), or the stop watch chip (that temporarily slows advancing chips) and things begin to get really interesting.
Roll Your Own
High Roller on the other hand is more of a bejeweled clone. As with PowerChips, you've got to match up three or more dice of the same colour by moving dice to a vertically or horizontally adjacent location. The number of possible moves is constantly re-calculated, and it's possible to run out of moves by not thinking several moves ahead (a tricky proposition with randomly generated dice falling downwards to fill the space vacated by matching dice you've just made disappear).
Needless to say, frantic click-fests quickly become the norm in both games. PowerChips and High Rollers makes for a refreshing change from soulless first person shooters and just goes to show that fancy graphics and sound can never be substituted for solid game-play. With both games, the developers have created something that's not only about as much fun as you can have with your clothes on, but both games will have coming back to again and again.
Speaking of Cute Penguins....
If Power Chips and High Roller is a thinking persons game, then Snowball run is more of an instant action title that's suitable for younger players. As with PowerChips and High Roller, Snowball run is supplied on CD-ROM in both Mac and Windows friendly formats.
Consisting of a cute Snowball riding Penguin and 75 levels of increasing difficulty so he (or she?) can scoff down strategically placed frozen fish, it manages to be simple, be fiendishly challenging and nauseatingly cute all at the same time.
Eat Those Fish!
What makes for interesting gameplay with Snowball run is a clock that constantly ticks away in each level. Not only does our cute penguin have eat enough frozen fish to make a fisherman from Sealords sick (these give extra lives), but you've got to guide our wee feathered friend to the finish line before the timer reaches zero and the snowball melts. Throw moving platforms and the ability to send poor pengy over the edge of a course into the fray and some sweaty palmed game play quickly ensues.
While not exactly cutting edge in terms of the gameplay, it's hard not to get attached (and darn mad) at that cute little penguin. While older players may quickly get bored with it, the lack of blood and gore (combined with the use a nauseatingly cute penguin) makes Snowball run ideal for younger players aged 5 through to 85, or die-hard Linux fans.
© Parkside Media 2004
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