From Point A to B
You’ll begin by creating a profile and then choosing from one of a few modes. Single player options include World, Arcade, Bonus, and Classic, but only World is available from the start, you’ll have to unlock the others. Classic, by the way, presents the original game and its stages with these new graphics, which is pretty cool. Game Sharing allows for two players to link up in local wireless and play a versus mode, even with only one copy of the game.
After a brief animated cutscene that presents the story, environments, and boss characters you will face, you’re off to Basic Training. Including training, there are seven total areas or environments to play through, although you have to unlock each along the way by completing several of the stages within each area. The object of each stage is to connect the Start and End points with pipe, or in some cases other items like train tracks. The idea is the same, but stages within an area and especially stages across different areas, vary quite a bit. Still, the goal is always the same; get the Start and End points connected without leaking Flooze. Flooze will automatically start to flow from the Start point after a displayed timer (usually under 60 seconds) expires, although you can speed this up to earn points if you’ve got your path pretty far along or complete.
The Start and End points are clearly visible at the start of each stage, but you must also take note which direction the Flooze must flow into the End point to be successful. The End point is a drain, and even if you connect your pipes in such a way that the Flooze flows into the drain, if it’s not coming into the drain/End point at the specified direction, the Flooze will flow out and your Flooze Meter will fill up and that stage is over (which you can then restart, and even skip to try another stage within the area you’re in).
As you can see from the screenshots, stages are made up of 2D grids. Each piece of pipe, the Start and End points, the obstacles, all of these take up one grid spot. It’s just up to you to connect enough pieces together to first, meet the required number of pieces per stage from Start to End, and secondly, to connect Start to End without losing too much Flooze. This is accomplished in a Tetris like manner, whereby various types of pieces including elbows, straight, loop, random (these change constantly until you place them) and other area specific pieces are presented to you for your use. Unlike Tetris, however, you cannot rotate pieces, so you’ll have to work with whatever comes your way. So when a piece comes your way that you cannot immediately use, you have two choices: lay it down somewhere else in the grid where you might eventually connect into it and use it, or lay it down and lay the next piece down on top of it, thereby destroying it. You can destroy pieces already placed by putting a new piece on them, as long as they don’t have Flooze in them, although destroyed pieces and any unused pieces will debit your score by 25 points. Finishing the stage is the ultimate goal, how many points you achieve isn’t as important, but the more complicated or long your pipe is, the more points you will earn. Sending your Flooze through bonus pieces, which often require you going just a little bit out of your way, earns you extra points, too.
Each area has about eight stages. You don’t necessarily ‘fight’ the boss character of each area, but they will, in the final stage of an area, throw a wrench in your operation (and not in a good way) by doing various ‘attacks’ that can damage your pipes or destroy them completely. Fortunately, you don’t have to repair damage pipes by replacing them with a piece of the exact same type, you just have to hover your mouse over the damaged piece for a few seconds. I also like how the game shows you a white or red arrow at the end of your pipe indicating what direction it’s going. Most times, you will have a lot of pipe pieces strewn about the stage, not to mention special pieces like tunnels, loops, and one way flow pieces that can make tracking the flow of your pipe slightly time consuming. Time becomes your biggest foe in Pipe Mania around the third stage, when you not only have to keep track of when the Flooze is going to start flowing, but you must also keep an eye on the stage timer.
As far as controls, there are two schemes included, and as with the PC version I found the default scheme most comfortable. Essentially, you’re not going to use much besides the directional buttons and the right trigger which accelerates the flow of Flooze.
The combination of the obstacles and environmental hazards and bonuses in stages, coupled with dealing with attacks and a timer, help make Pipe Mania an addictive game. It’s fast load times, simple controls, and ‘easy to play, hard to master’ mentality make it accessible but also challenging at the same time, not at all unlike the original title its based off, Pipe Dreams, from nearly twenty years ago. Furthermore, it makes for a great portable title. The story, characters, and environments make this ideal for a kids game, but it’s transparent and second to the gameplay enough that adults can enjoy it too. Overall, Pipe Mania is a neat little puzzler with plenty of twists and variety to keep the same basic goal fresh and challenging between stages, especially when played in short bursts, perfect for PSP gaming on the move.