16 May, 2011
Developer: Alawar Games
Platform: PC & Mac [PC version used for review]
In Ten Words Or Less: “Steam punk inspired puzzling of the highest order.”
Family Friendly?: Definitely. Read here to find out why.
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The original Snark Busters was a little gem of a game – a delightful hidden object affair, with a refreshing art style to boot. While the game didn’t map out any new territory for the genre, it did utilise all the charm it could muster in order to succeed; and succeed it did. Now armed with a witty new protagonist, an even larger quantity of broken objects to piece together and a streetcar probably not named Desire, Snark Busters returns to do what it does best – waste your time in the nicest manner possible.
The game itself follows a very simple premise; discover broken objects amid the colourful scenery, then piece the object together and use it in order to advance the story. This comes in the form of various overblown, yet entertaining, situations – these include stitching together a rip in an airship’s balloon and (a particular favourite of mine) using a clock operated dragon to defrost a fridge. This hopefully gives you an insight into just how seriously this game takes itself; it doesn’t. It has to be said, the game’s all the better for it, allowing for the sheer absurdity of certain situations to feel like common sense in the bizarre world of Nodnol. Thankfully, rather than letting the simplistic mechanics feel repetitive and clumsy, the game feels fresh upon the arrival of every scene change, thanks to the oodles of wit and attention to detail.
The setting takes a good majority of the credit for this, it has to be said. The quirky steam punk background in which all this pointing and clicking takes place is nothing short of spectacular, with detail crammed into every nook and cranny. The quest you embark on takes you to all manner of places; freefalling airships, a deserted amusement park and enchanted tree houses to name but three, and all are captured beautifully by the art direction. This is all complemented well by the wide array of sound effects and background music, which do their part to make Nodnol feel like an alternate world, but a world none the less. You can’t help but feel that voice acting could have been implemented to further immerse the player though.
As is to be expected of games in this genre, the plot is reasonably thin on the ground. You take the role of Jack Blair, a celebrated race driver who, after discovering a letter from your missing father, drops the fame for a stab at a more challenging offering – the pursuit and capture of a Snark. The game contains six levels as such, each of them serving as a stepping stone to the final goal of the Snark Busters Club, and that sweet ride they’ve all been talking about. The absence of sub plots of any variation means that in terms of storytelling clout, this is all the game has to offer – that said, I doubt anyone will come to this game expecting a gripping behemoth of a storyline, and it’s a criteria any entry in this genre can barely be judged upon.
The game moves along at a comfortable pace, always keeping a degree of momentum across each screen. The difficulty never strays too far from moderate at its hardest, and only requires some cranium racking here and there due to the forgiving hint system. All the mini-games within Stark Busters also have a skip option after a certain amount of time has elapsed, so if you feel like you’ve ever been beaten by a particular puzzle, you won’t stay stuck for very long. It’s a credit to the accessibility of this game that you never feel like something was hidden unfairly, and if you do end up pressing the hint button to track down that last part of a handle, or half a battery, you’ll end up smacking yourself when you realise just whereabouts it was hidden. Although the game itself will take no longer than four or five hours to finish, it never ceases to be enjoyable, and can be left and picked up at any point. It may not be quite the spare time sink that is Plants vs Zombies, but never the less, this is casual gaming nirvana.
For those of you unfortunate enough to miss the first offering in the series, fear not – the game requires no knowledge of the quest for the elusive Snark. In fact, the only references to the first one come in the form of the return of the reporter, Jessica Marrey, and a cameo from the previous main character, Kira. Although these characters serve as a polite nod to players of the prior installment, their presence does highlight a few gripes with the protagonist of this offering – Jack suffers from minimal character development, and ends up coming across as nothing short of an arrogant pretty boy. Whilst this is clearly done to fuel the wit and banter that accompanies all manner of situations, it eventually becomes a drag to read, and some may eventually give up on reading the text that accompanies each development altogether.
While this new offering from Alawar Games does little to reinvent the genre or trump its predecessor, it does manage to retain the charm of the series. It’s a short burst of a game that constantly entertains and challenges the player, whilst never taking itself too seriously in the process. The game really benefits from the elaborate steam punk world in which it is set, as well as the incredible artwork doing its part to keep gamers intrigued throughout. It may not be the kind of game you look forward to playing when you get home from work, per se, or the game that will play on your mind for months and years to come, but a finer time waster there is not.
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To tell you the truth, I’m hard pushed to think of a game that is more family friendly than Snark Busters: All Revved Up. Yes, there are no multiplayer modes, but it’s the kind of game that gets people talking throughout, as well as helping in the search for fragmented items and what to do with them. There isn’t even a hint of bad language, nor is there any confusing dialogue or complex storylines. This is simple point and click fun at its best, and the younger gamers amongst us will love it. As of yet, there is no “official” age rating, but I would suggest that although the game can be played at any age, only children of perhaps 6 and above would be able to make sense of the game unassisted.
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