Magnetic Review

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Magnetic

Review by MrLipidDecember 2003

Puzzle Nut

I’m going to say this right up front. I am a big fan of pure puzzle games. Jewels of the Oracle, Gems of Darkness, even Karma: Curse of the 12 Caves. Own Pandora’s Box, all three editions of Smart Games and a couple variations of Teazle. Have even played Milo.  I am one of those folks who is perfectly content to solve puzzles in the complete absence of a story. Why be forced to wade through the all-too-often dismal dialogue? Why not just cut right to the stumpers?

Given my bias, Magnetic, an independent production by Peter Hewitt of Xiama fame, should have been halfway to a thumbs up or maybe even a star before landing on my desk. Should have been. Didn’t make it. What went wrong?

“My Name Is Quarm and I’ll Be Your Sidekick this Evening …”

Like Xiama, Magnetic offers a series of games and puzzles set against pleasing photographs of Hewitt’s native Australia.

One welcome refinement is the addition of an in-game assistant.  Rather than enter your name, you select from one of six digital sidekicks. You simply click on your chosen sidekick at the start of a session and away you go. Be advised that your digital buddy is responsible for autosaving your games and keeps track of both your successes and your failures.

Your digital buddy also serves as a docent who, if asked, will provide hints as to how a game (or puzzle) works and what must be done in order to beat (or solve) it. Even with the hints, there is plenty of “I wonder what will happen if I do this?”  in Magnetic as one attempts to dope out the mechanics of the various games and puzzles.

There are 31 challenges in all, some slight, some substantial.  Once Magnetic’s first big challenge has been beaten, players must locate and beat 15 simpler stumpers to gain access to the 15 major challenges. Once a major challenge has been reached, even if it has not been beaten, Magnetic provides a visual menu that allows players to return immediately to it for another go.  Nice touch.

The photographic backgrounds are quite attractive, the individual games and puzzles have a bit more polish than those found in Xiama and the soundtrack is sufficiently subdued (birds, surf, an occasional musical flourish) to allow one to concentrate on the tasks at hand.

Workin’ in the Coal Mine, Goin’ Down, Down, Down …

And now begins the bad news. Magnetic is not so much a game of games as it is a collection of repetitive tasks. Magnetic is just not much fun. Unlike Xiama, Magnetic is tilted more toward logic and math games than puzzles. One is often playing against the computer, trying, in too many cases, to prevent it from making the last move. Remember the microscope puzzle in The 7th Guest? Imagine a collection of games built along that line. Yum. Or not.

And it gets worse. Denying the computer the last move in one of the 15 major challenges is not enough. Not nearly enough. I shudder when remembering the moment that it dawned on me that the only way I could get past one of the major—let’s just call them obstacles rather than challenges and be done with it—was by beating the computer eight times in a row. Eight times! And if I lost a round, I would simply have to replay it. And replay it. And replay it. And then do the same thing again 14 more times. The 7th Guest, by providing a way for players to sidestep those sections that proved too frustrating, demonstrated a level of generosity absent in Magnetic.

Even a great stumper loses its appeal if the game developer requires that players beat it repeatedly just to move on. This design choice feels lazy … as lazy as the maze and arcade sequences in DogDay.  Forcing players to (seemingly) endlessly replay components of a title is a tedious substitute for creating something new that can earn and deserve a similar interval of rapt attention.

Had Enough? How About Some More …

Magnetic offers a variation of the repeated play gambit with the more of the same ploy. Win a round involving a 3×3 grid and you’ll find you’ve earned the opportunity to try again with a 4×4 grid, and then a 5×5 grid, a 6×6 grid, a 7×7 grid and, finally, an 8×8 grid. And if you fail to win a round, the game resets to its previous level. Blow it on the 5×5 and you get tossed back to the 4×4, etc.  Doesn’t that sound like fun?

What makes this so frustrating is that the simpler stumpers are actually pretty interesting. There is a coin puzzle that will have players smacking their foreheads for not immediately seeing its solution. And there is a puzzle involving a turtle that, while it has to be beaten three times, treats players fairly and rewards close attention to cause and effect.

Over and Over and Over Again, this Dance Is Gonna Be a Drag …

As much as it pains me to say it, given the earnest good intentions that were obviously part of Magnetic’s production, Magnetic is just not very successful as entertainment. The lack of variety among Magnetic’s games, coupled with the requirement that half of them must be played way too many times, produces an experience that is, at best, mediocre. Had there been more variety or less insistence on repetition or both, Magnetic might have earned a place among the near-greats. Near-greats like, say, Milo.

(If, after all this, you’re still interested, you can get a pretty good idea what to expect from Magnetic by going here.) The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Mulawa Dreaming Publisher: Mulawa Dreaming Release Date: March 2003

Available for: Windows

Four Fat Chicks Links

Player Feedback

Screenshots

Click to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlargeClick to enlarge Click to enlarge

System Requirements

Pentium 166 or better 32 MB RAM Plays from CD (or requires 340 MB free hard disc space) 4X CD-ROM drive Direct X 7 (included) Windows 98/2000/XP 640×480 resolution, 16-bit high color video mode 100% DirectX compatible soundcard and drivers 100% Direct-3D compatible video card with 2 MB VRAM 100% Microsoft compatible mouse/keyboard and drivers

Where to Find It

Mulawa Dreaming $22.00 (includes shipping)

Prices/links current as of 12/11/03Links provided for informational purposes only.  FFC makes no warranty with regard to any transaction entered into by any party(ies).

      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

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17 Responses to First Impressions: Heavy Rain

  • Toger

    I hate QTEs, but Heavy Rain is sitting in my Amazon cart waiting for me to push the button. I don’t even own a PS3, but I plan on buying the game anyway. I do have a good friend who’ll let me play at his house. Of course, I’ll have to drive 100 miles, one way, through the snow to get to his house. His chat-happy birds will cheerfully chirp thereby completely disrupting any atmosphere, but I can play.

  • David

    What!?  Heavy Rain is full of QTEs?  I totally did not see that coming.

    The whole dad experience thing sounds intriguing.  I’m already getting odd looks from my girlfriend for exclaiming over cute kids on the bus or at the mall, something like what you described might send my biological clock over the edge.

  • Lewis B

    My sentiments exactly David!

    Mat has been playing the Heavy Rain demo for a while now, and although he admits he is intrigued by the story, he does constantly complain about the control method.

    R2 + Analogue stick to run? *scoff*

  • Gregg B

    @Lew: DEMO?! PS3 DEMO?! *runs off to PS3*

    That sounds like the Batman: Arkham Asylum controls – Crazy Bonkers Design. The sort of design that puts pull handles on push doors.

    @Steerpike: “I despise children. They are disgusting and annoying. They knock things over. They interfere with everything. They’re not useful until they’re at least 13, when you can get them to mow the lawn and stuff. But you can pay a service to do that for just a few hundred bucks a year and the service won’t vomit on you, shit in its diapers, grow up to resent you, or otherwise suck. Don’t flame me and don’t post comments to the contrary: kids are repulsive. Why anyone would want them is beyond my feeble imaginings.”

    HAHAhahaha- I er, – hahahaha – you’re as outspoken as me about demon spawn children.

  • Lewis B

    Yeah its been on the internet for weeks and weeks Greggi.  I think you have to do a couple of online puzzles etc to get the appropriate code or something.

    Search on Kotaku, they first ran with it IIRC.

  • Mat

    The puzzle code was for early access before it hit the PSN Store. It’s been available to all since last week.

    Regarding the demo, it took me around 3 or 4 attempts at it to appreciate it. First time around I couldn’t have been more dissapointed by it, but after the 3rd or 4th I decided I wanted to stick with it. I don’t think the demo is a particularly great example of what the game supposedly does best either – choice. I also HATE the control scheme and some of the voice acting is so wooden. Creating an immersive, realistic game is fine but having characters stumbling into tables and fridges because of the ham fisted controls, and listening to French voice actors impersonate Americans does remove that realism a little!

    Still, I rushed out to buy it this morning and will rush home from work to play it in about an hour!

  • xtal

    @ Toger: I don’t own a PS3 either, and it’s not like Heavy Rain seems to be “that” game which makes you run out and buy one– like Bioshock made me run out and get a 360– and it’s also not like this game looks groundbreaking in any way, because it really doesn’t. It’s just got me curious…and people tend to do crazy things the week after they get their yearly bonus. Soooooo yeah, who knows; maybe I’ll own a PS3 soon, but like hell I would admit that it was for Heavy Rain. Psh. I’d tell people it was because I wanted to watch BSG on blu-ray; though anyone who knows me would see right through that lie since I am an avid non-format-upgrader: I’ll switch my BSG collection from DVD to blu-ray the day I upgrade my copy of Jurassic Park from VHS to DVD. (Hint: never)

  • Toger

    @xtal: I’m in no hurry to upgrade my meagre DVD collection to blu-ray either, but I have to say the movies I’ve watched on my friend’s PS3 are absolutely stunning. Blade Runner was simply breath-taking in blu-ray and it made me want a PS3. I don’t think Heavy Rain will be a system seller for me, but I’m betting the game from the Ico team will.

  • xtal

    A game from the Ico team, you say? Hmmm. I’ve been making rounds on Kijiji and Craigslist looking for a copy of Ico (eBay prices are so shudder-inducing) for a few days now. I really need to play that game after my experience with the indescribable Shadow of the Colossus.

    It’s good to know they haven’t died some Interplay-esque death in the meantime.

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Nope, they’re a small team that works within Sony. Fumito Ueda is the lead and he’s got like ten or so people who’ve worked with him on all his games. Sony pretty much lets them do what they want.

    The Last Guardian is the game that’s coming up from them. It looks more like Ico and less like Shadow of the Colossus to me, which is to say it appears to be focused on platform elements. If I didn’t already have a PS3, it’d be the game that sells it.

  • Gregg B

    @Toger: Ooh, Blade Runner on Blu-ray, gorgeous in all its gorgeosity. In 5.1 it sounds incredible too.

    I bought my PS3 for Team Ico’s unnamed-at-the-time game, Heavy Rain (back when it was just a teaser), LittleBig Planet (yes, yes, I know), Dead Space and Motor Storm: Pacific Rift which sort of pushed me off the fence.

  • Toger

    Gregg, oh yes. The surround sound was spectacular. Did I mention my friend’s HDTV is 72″ (obscene, isn’t it)? It’s like being at a high-class theatre: better food, pauses for bathroom breaks and no one talking through the movie.

    Is Trine up on PSN, yet? If so, that might be my tipping point: Last Guardian, Heavy Rain and Trine.

  • Gregg B

    *spits tea out, despite not drinking any*

    O_O

    72″?! I’m speechless. I can only imagine how awesome that is. Size does matter.

    Not so sure about Trine… hang on. I think it is.

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    I think it is too, Toger. I’ll check.

    To be honest, though, I doubt you’d be disappointed with the purchase even if Trine’s not there yet. I’ve been way happier with my PS3 than with my 360. Demon’s Souls, Valkyria Chronicles, Uncharted, Folklore, even little games like Flower – I’ve had more concentrated fun with the PS3 than with Microsoft’s console, which tends to gather dust for months between game releases.

    72″???? I thought size didn’t matter!

  • Toger

    Size doesn’t matter. 😀

    In my friend’s defense, it was a great deal: opened box, itty-bitty scratch on the case, not a dead pixel to be seen and it was less $$ than the 60″ he originally wanted.

    Thanks for checking guys. I’ve played a tiny bit of Uncharted, but I’m horrible at the combat. Flower intrigues me. As does Demon’s Souls, but I know that game will crush my soul.

  • Gregg B

    There were certain moments in Flower where it just totally succeeded in conveying a feeling that I can’t say I’ve had in many other games, usually when rushing across a field through the grass or through a canyon or just skimming a pond, but it was never anything to do with collecting bloody petals or fulfilling some rudimentary puzzle. I think my problem with it was that it felt like it was trying to be this deeply emotional piece but in the end there seemed to be too many concessions to being a game rather than just running with the emotive side of the experience. One thing I am sure about though, is the trophies. Don’t get me started on the fucking trophies…

    One of my favourite little games on the PS3 is Everyday Shooter. It’s got a brilliant soundtrack that suits its raw visual style and I love how each level requires a certain tactic or strategy to survive it. It’s a very satisfying game in small bursts.

  • Hanover

    Unfortunately Cage mucked up the ending yet again.  The problem is that the mechanic of the game forced them to have to cheat in order to prevent spoiling the mystery of the game.

    There is also a red herring that makes no sense and is obviously put there to misdirect the player.

    90% of the game is awesome, the last 10% while not as bad as the indigo prophecy, is still sloppy.

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