Friday, March 27, 2015

Andrew the Droid

Andrew the Droid online gameAndrew the Droid is a retro-looking title that utilizes the familiar level rotation concept found in a number of online games. Work your way through over two dozen levels, avoiding hazards as you unlock exits, collect chips to grant new abilities, and rotate the stage to let gravity pull you where you need to go.

A tile-based platform adventure at heart, you control Andrew with the [arrow] keys as you wheel left and right across the stage. Each level has a diamond-shaped teleporter exit somewhere in the maze that must be activated by touching the green controller icon found elsewhere. Certain blocks can destroy Andrew (so, you know, avoid them), and youll eventually come across new types of obstacles such as glass blocks that break after you step on them.

Heres where the game gets really fun: upgrade chips. Six chips found throughout the game grant Andrew new abilities that help him navigate his increasingly treacherous world. The first two allow you to rotate the game world clockwise and counterclockwise respectively, forming the central focus of the puzzle elements in the game. Cant reach the teleporter at the top of the level? Rotate everything a few times and gravity will do the rest. Later youll earn more powers that add extra layers of strategy and challenge to the game.

Analysis: Andrew the Droid doesnt introduce anything we havent seen in a game before, but it manages to put everything together in a way thats balanced, fun, and pleasing in every way possible. Why re-invent the wheel when you can just put on some shiny new hubcaps and maybe a unicorn sticker or two?

Using items to upgrade Andrew adds the always-nice sense of accomplishment to the game, especially since many of the abilities are basic moves most platform games grant from the start. Restricting your actions forces you to get creative, and when you solve a puzzle in this "gimped" form, youve earned it. Adding abilities like jumping makes you feel infinitely more powerful in a minimalistic sort of way.

As far as the puzzles are concerned, Andrew the Droid doesnt throw anything too difficult at you. Youll get stuck a few times, but a little experimentation will get you through the day. Dont expect to stretch your brain too much, as most of the puzzles are action-based.

Simple and polished to a bright, reflective shine, Andrew the Droid is a superb example of how to create a puzzle platform online game that keeps calling you back level after level.

Play Andrew the Droid

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