The streets are watching as 50 Cent blasts his way to the truth.
That game being Fifty Cent’s Bulletproof. Most games I play allow you to blast your way to the truth just like our main man, Fiddy. Many games have shooting at their heart, but slap other stuff in too (like puzzles or that thing called story). Amidst all that carnage, quite when do we think? Where’s the creative thought in sniping someone’s face clean off? As an escape I played Pandora’s Gearbox. It has no guns, no “blasting” and most importantly, no Fiddy.
Pandora’s Gearbox is a cunning take on lock picking and gearboxes (there’s also a bit of encapsulation going on there too, but maybe that’s my saturated brain trying to make weird associations). Like all good puzzlers, the solutions to the conundrums are simple, but figuring them out — navigating the hidden channels, locks and bars — is fidd(l)y.
Each puzzle is a gearbox shrouded in darkness. You can’t see what’s inside, only feel it. By using a small probe that moulds to the outlines of objects you can start to build up a picture of the internals. The probe doubles as your hands inside the gearbox and can be used to flip switches, knock over blocks, roll the ball. etc. Your aim: to move a ball from the start of the gearbox to the end through vertical bars, lifts, drops, cogs, and blocks. Simple things, really.
Mastering puzzles derives from looking at the ball’s path. What’s in it’s way? Where would it need to go? Each part of the puzzle is important. It’s easy to think that some obscure element in the upper right hand corner won’t be needed, but it will. Think logically. Think outside the box. You can’t shoot your way out now, so make peace with the puzzle.
Pandora’s Gearbox is an unassuming title and provides simple pleasures from a wonderfully executed concept. Granted the graphics are a little crummy, but the puzzles are crafty, even fiendish at times. And for the wonderful price of free, there truly be no reason not to try it.
