In 2012, PIXOWL released The Sandbox on iOS. A simple game that uses pixelated elements to solve simple to complex puzzles, and an open world mode that is just plain fun. Really dumb fun, but in an intelligent way.
Fast forward a few years and we’ve got a steam version of the same game from developer PIXOWL, but on a platform that won’t necessarily make your fingers hurt or make you go blind. The luxury of a mouse and a monitor make a world of difference when you’re trying to create something meticulously. It’s far better than a finger (insert jokes here).
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Anyway, the main portion of the game, outside of the open world mode is the story mode. The story mode gives players goals they must accomplish with certain pixelated elements, which they have to create and obtain. For example, the first stage you play is you have to create mud. You have a mixture of sand and water at your disposal, which allows you to create mud. Once created, mud is added to your list of elements, which propels you to make new elements through a series of puzzles. Another example of the story mode is a stage that requires you to create weather in the air. To do so, you have to get water to lift into the air, which creates clouds and eventually rain. It’s very small goals, at least at the beginning.
As you keep progressing, the goals become much harder. There are some levels where you have to get two (or more) elements to react together and produce another element, but it requires several elements put together to get said reaction. It’s simple, it’s for folks who love using their noggin and it can get hard very quick. It can get tough, but it’s worth the trouble.
Outside of the story mode, you have several campaigns to work with including ones that contain dinosaurs, humans and even zombies. You also get the chance to create worlds on your own, which will probably be the biggest draw of this game. This is, of course, dependent on the amount of patience you have in your system to put together such stuff. For me, I tend to not spend too much time on things like this. I enjoy viewing them, and there is a community sharing option for this game, but I hate sitting down and creating them. I was that kid who enjoyed seeing the end results of a large LEGO building session, but not the session itself. I can appreciate it, though, and I think the entire concept behind the 2D pixel creation process is fascinating. I think it’s doubly so when you can get the elements to work together the way they are scientifically supposed to work together, which is another draw of the game. You can make some pretty spectacular things out of this game, and I believe people will.
If you’re smart and willing to give some time up for this game, then The Sandbox will certainly entertain you on the gameplay side of things. It has a lot to offer.
On the presentation side of things, the game is a wonderful 1988/PC pixelated heaven running on an EGA monitor (look that one up, young folks). It’s pretty, especially in HD, if you’re into the old style visuals of gameplay. I’m a huge fan of the point-and-click genre from the old LucasArts days, so I’m visually pleased with the outcome of this title. The amount of pixels you can get working at the same time onscreen is pretty amazing. Again, simple stuff that looks fun.
A rarity to the presentation category nowadays on Digitalchumps is when the music outperforms the visuals. You not only get a very pleasant soundtrack already attached to The Sandbox during the initial story mode, but you also have the ability in the game to create your own sounds that are straight out of the 8-bit era. If they could make a modern game that is nothing but music creation out of the 8-bit era then that would sell like hotcakes. PIXOWL, you can have that idea for free. Just put my name in the credits when you sell a million.
So, with all this said and the concept understood, what about the value of it? Well, the iOS version is a free-to-play game, which means microtransactions are somewhere along the way. I’m personally not a huge fan of microtransactions, but I understand why smaller developers use them — sans Microsoft and Forza on the Xbox One. Smaller developers have to realistically make money in some way shape or form to keep producing good ideas. As a critic, I completely will let that slide 10 out of 10 times. The freshest ideas come from the indie developers of the gaming world.
Anyway, the Steam version of The Sandbox is $14.99, so is it worth it in comparison to the free-to-play version? Yes, it is. You don’t have to worry about getting stuck and forking over the dough. It’s less frustrating and it’s good to know everything is at your disposal, plus you get a bit more with this purchase in comparison to the iOS version. More elements, more ways to play and an HD mode (gotta love that). There’s enough here to warrant the price of admission.
Onto the summary!
