Aside from the many puzzle games I’ve played over my yearsas a gamer, Pipe Dream also has along history with me as being a highly addictive experience. Whether it wasplayed on the Microsoft entertainment packs or on Sesame Street ABC’s 123’s, I used to love the game. And, this longhistory is also a testament to the skills that I have while playing the game(and many games from the puzzle game genre). The gameplay just comes natural tome and I love them dearly.
So, with Puzzle Mania reaching 4 platforms, it’s time to analyze the game to find out if it trulypays homage to the original game and how determine which platform houses thebest version of this game. As for the DS, how does square up against otherpuzzle games on the DS. Can it match up to the likes of Meteos, Tetris DS, Prism: Light the Way, and Puzzle Quest or is itjust another washed up pipe dream of a puzzle game?
Preliminary Plumbing
If you’ve never seen or played a game similar to Pipe Mania, the gameplay is very easy tolearn. Essentially, the goal is to add pipes of different shapes (Straight,Ell, Cross, etc.) between a starting point and an end point. A liquid willbegin to flow from the starting point after a set amount of time and willcontinue to flow until the level is over. If the liquid spills out of anunfinished part of the pipe, you only have a few seconds to fix the leak beforeyou lose. You can replace existing pipes with new ones if you laid the wrongpiece but this can only be done at the expense of a score penalty. Finally, ifyou can manage to connect your pipe entirely to the ending position, you winthe level once the liquid hits the end.
In the DS version of the game, there is the option of eitherplaying with the stylus or using the D-Pad plus buttons (the stylus is muchmore comfortable in my opinion). Using the stylus, controls are as simple astouching an area on the grid to place the current available piece, and L or Rto speed up the flooze. The Stylus will be used for other controls such asrepairing pipes during boss battles (by placing your stylus on the pipe andholding it there for a second or two) or to flip switches.
Overall, the controls are best on the DS and PC as having amouse or stylus is much more effective than using a D-Pad + a button to move acursor and drop pieces. That’s not to say that the controls are bad in theother versions of the game, it’s just that the game was meant to be played witha pointer of some sort. And though the DS controls were the best, that’s not tosay they didn’t have one small flaw: every now and then the game may detectyour tap as a double tap and will cause you to lay down your first pipe andthen immediately replace it with the next (this can become extremely annoyingif you’re trying to lay pipe frantically, as it can often lead to defeat).
Pipe Mania beginswith a nice looking opening sequence featuring good looking animations andvoice acting and providing a brief overview of the purported story as well asan introduction to all of the characters and the situation. And if you’rewondering, the DS version of the game looks equally as good as the PS2 versionof the game (which is more of a problem for the PS2 version than a praise ofthe DS one). The story is purposefully silly, which is the case with most puzzlegames, as gameplay is generally the main emphasis. Basically, Alfonso Senior,the star of previous Pipe Mania gameshas had his retirement interrupted by cowboy plumbers. Thus, he puts one of hischildren, Alfonso Junior or Fawcett to work learning the tricks of the trade sothat they can be prepared to face the evil Buffalo Bonzo.
There are four modes to PipeMania, featuring World Mode, Arcade, Bonus, and Classic. Though all ofthese modes can be unlocked after playing just a few levels, World Mode is theonly type of game available at the start of your game. In World Mode, playersplay through a series of 7 different areas, each of which contains 7 levels anda boss fight. Gameplay is as simple as getting the “flooze” (or pseudo-floozein the case of trains, electricity, and toys) from a start point to an endpoint. Though the first world is simplistic like the original Pipe Dream (also operating as a trainingsession), levels become more and more difficult throughout your adventure asyou travel from world to world (each world has a different set of rules as wellas different ways to modify the gameplay strategies).
For instance, in world 1 you’re typically just trying to addpieces of pipe between the starting and end point. World 2 is similar to world1 but in this area, a few new pieces are added to the mix including a pencilpiece that allows you to pick any pipe you want by drawing the shape on a 3×3 grid(something that is only available in the DS and PC games, and a lot morecreative than the “random” piece that is included in the PS2 and PSP games thatbasically cycles through all possible pieces until you place the pipe). World 3begins to change the game up a bit by giving you command over train tracks. Inthis world, the flooze (a train in this case) has a finite length but you havenew modes of gameplay such as switches to change turns from one direction toanother, an overall time limit, and special pieces that add one car to yourtrain, increasing its length (which is necessary for some missions).
World 4 features a factory where an endless line of coloredobjects flow along the conveyer belts you lay down and you have special piecesto change their color, split the flooze into two, or converge two groups offlooze into one. This reminded me of the gameplay from Prism: Light the Way as there is a lot of strategy to turning theflooze into the right color to finish the mission. World 5 features electricitythat moves extremely quickly through the wires you place and special piecesthat slow the movement of the current are necessary to buy you time.
World 6 is the internet which doesn’t feature a lot of newpieces but does feature new types of gameplay. By this time, the game’sdifficulty has jumped enormously and one level in particular took me around10-20 tries to finish (so the game is difficult and it will challenge even thebest puzzle gamers). World 7 tests all of your skills by providing someextremely sick levels.
As you progress through the World mode, there are a fewdifferent goals to achieve on each level, awarded in the form of a bronze,silver, or gold medal. Bronze is awarded if you just beat the level with theminimum requirement, silver is awarded if you can manage to reach a certainscore and gold is awarded to players that go above and beyond. At first itseemed very easy to obtain gold on every level but once the actual leveldifficulty ramped up, golds became almost impossible to achieve at times (whichis a good thing in my opinion). Once you gain six medals in a world (of anykind) you can move on to the next world.
If you choose to finish off the levels in a world by playingthe last two levels, the last specifically is a Boss battle. Boss battlesfeature classic pipe laying gameplay with a twist: the boss will attack youfrequently by either damaging your pipes or affecting your ability to laypipes. Each world has a different boss with different abilities so battles aren’talways easy. Players must continue laying pipe to finish the level in theallotted amount of time and they must also repair any pipes that are damaged orthe leak will cause them to lose.
Post Plumbing
The next mode of gameplay is Arcade Mode. This mode featuresa set of levels that are several screens long and rather than just trying toguide flooze from the start to finish, you must also keep the flooze movingfast enough to outrun the scrolling screen. If it gets left behind, you loseimmediately. There are 16 levels of Arcade mode in all and if you begin atlevel one, you can play all the way through to 16 with an accumulating scorefrom level to level (though starting on later levels still provides you with anice starting bonus to your score). There are also 3 levels of speed, each ofwhich gives you a higher starting bonus proportional to the increase of speed.Also, if you can obtain a silver medal on a level from every world, you canobtain a hard mode which consists of 16 more levels that are much moredifficult.
Bonus Mode is another excellent addition to the gameplay,featuring a series of short levels that require quick thinking to obtain thehighest level. Either of the bonus games can be played on either a 3×3 grid, a4x4 grid, or a 5×5 grid, each of which is more difficult respectively. Thefirst bonus game is called Match, where players must fill in the missing piecesfrom the puzzle (in the correct order) before the time runs out. The otherbonus game is Spin, where some of the pipes are rotated in the wrong directionand you must rotate them to complete the chain. Both versions only contain 8different levels per grid size and neither takes very long to finish but theykeep you on your feet and the strategy of these games is lightning fastthinking and reflexes.
The final mode of gameplay is Classic Mode, which allowsplayers to play through a 8 subsequent groups of 8 levels. Each level isunlocked once you finish the level before it so it’s one long journey to finishthrough the 64 classic levels. If you do manage to finish every level, the gamerewards you with a hard mode, that features 64 more levels, each of which aremuch more difficult than the regular mode.
As it stands, this game has a whole slew of options and thiscan make any puzzle fan happy (quantity is the secret to puzzle gamingsuccess). Players will have multiple hours of gameplay to finish the game,giving completionists a large amount of gameplay (maybe 60+ hours to achieve everything?).I really liked all of the options in the game but I do have a few regrets: TheDS version lacks a multiplayer mode which is probably its biggest fault. The DSversion also lacks around 50 or so levels that the others contain but despiteits faults, it’s still probably the definitive version of the game due to itspointer controls and the portability.
Any great puzzler features a level editor to further extendgameplay (this would also artificially create/extend a multiplayer experience).None of the versions of this game contain a level editor, which is a littledisappointing. Finally, internet would top it all off, making the game a trulycomplete experience. Internet isn’t necessary for puzzlers but it’s a one-twopunch when paired with level editors to give puzzlers potentially unlimitedreplay value.
The Art of Plumbing
As was stated before, the visuals look very nice for a DSpuzzler and you couldn’t ask for much else. The two screen presentation worksbest with the grid appearing on the bottom screen and all other stats on thetop screen. Because the bottom screen can be dedicated fully to the grid, youget a much more zoomed in appearance than on the other platforms (unless you’replaying on a huge TV). Also, aside from the great looking opening sequence, thevisuals are very polished overall.
The music is also pretty catchy with different tracks foreach world you play. No, the soundtrack isn’t close to the level of quality of Meteos but it is better than most puzzlegames out there in the fact that it doesn’t really ever annoy. I will say thata few of the sound effects can annoy at times but aside from this, thesurround/stereo sound was implemented well, allowing you to hear which area theflooze is in at any given time (so you don’t have to constantly look back towonder where it is). Also, if it gets too close to an opening, the music willchange to a more upbeat, but still suitable, song.
If you couldn’t already guess, this game matches qualitywith quantity, providing gamers with 4 unique experiences and a whole slew oflevels within each. The variation from mode to mode, world to world, and levelto level, was an exciting surprise and the experience never really got old. Ifound myself getting lost in time playing this game on my DS (especially sincethe portability allows you to play in any location). All-in-all, this gamegives a lot of bang for your buck at only $19.99 (the lowest price for any newDS game available). The only reservation in giving the depth a perfect scoreare the three abovementioned features that would have made the game a trulycomplete puzzler experience (multiplayer, level editor, and online features).
Overall
Pipe Mania for theDS more than exceeded my high expectations of practical puzzling pastimes. Itscombination of quality and quantity at a very low price all fit the mold of oneexcellent puzzler. I never thought PipeDream still could have this much life but they really took great advantageof adding unique extras to the old format. The only reservations are a lack ofmultiplayer, a level editor, and online play, all features that are standard inmost great puzzle games nowadays (though this could have increased thedevelopment costs). Still, I’m quite partisan to puzzlers and I simply loved thisgame from start to finish.