Game Reviews

Perchang - To puzzler, perchang to dream

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iOS
| Perchang
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Perchang - To puzzler, perchang to dream
|
iOS
| Perchang
Updated on October 27th, 2016, at 4:47 PM: We were already impressed with Perchang's initial offering, but the team at Perchang Games weren't done with their gizmo-based puzzler quite yet. This new expansion, Perchang: Black, adds 24 levels and builds upon its unique blend of color-colored contraptions and simple controls to deliver a clever array of new challenges.

The biggest change in the expansion is gravity, both in its lower and zero forms. Challenges have you propelling balls through areas of low gravity, needing to take account how this variable will influence the balls' momentum, as well as gravity well machines that can be controlled directly.

While the gravity mechanics only allows for some smart new wrinkles, overall Perchang: Black's puzzles feel more advanced and challenging than the base game. From the first zone, you'll need to manage multiple flippers and fans, activate your machinery with precision, under stricter time limits.

Perchang: Black is an impressive addition to an already fun smartly-designed puzzler. You can purchase the expansion for £1.49 / $1.99.

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Perchang shows how simple controls don't have to make for a simple experience. It's a complex puzzler hidden behind two buttons.

It's game about contraptions, about moving balls from one place to another. And it works brilliantly well, layering new ideas on at a steady pace, but never overwhelming you.

There are a few difficulty spikes here and there, but the overall experience is a polished and entertaining one that looks at the puzzler genre from a different angle.

Chang? I got chang

Each level has a nozzle that drips in balls, and a funnel that you need to get a certain number of the balls to. Then there are a number of contraptions that you can control.

To start with these are as simple as tiltable platforms, but after a while you're controlling fans, magical bounce hoops, and all manner of other things.

There are two buttons at the bottom of the screen, one blue, one red. Pressing one of them turns on the contraption that matches that colour.

Sometimes there's more than one piece of the level that moves when you push the button, but if you tap the contraptions themselves you can switch their hue.

A timer at the top of the screen counts down. There are three different medals to collect, Gold, Silver, and Bronze. You can complete a level without getting one, but if time runs out before you've got all the balls you need you'll have to start all over again.

You unlock a number of levels each time you complete a chunk of five, so if you do get stuck you can move through them. When you've done all four you unlock a sort of boss level. Finish that and you'll move on to the next set.

Chang how you do things

There's a lot of working things out to do here, and completionists will happily return to levels to try and get the gold medals.

There are a few hiccups here and there, but the ingenuity of the level design usually means you'll find yourself enjoying working out where you're going wrong.

This is an excellent, thoughtful puzzler that doesn't hold your hand, and fans of the genre are going to lap up every level that it throws at them.

Perchang - To puzzler, perchang to dream

A clever puzzler with a raft of new ideas, Perchang is well worth your time
Score
Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.