SHENZHEN I/O

As low level embedded programmer, I thought I'd be target audience, but it actually felt more like work than fun. It's actually much more rewarding to actually do some embedded project than wasting time in this masochistic simulation. Be aware that only 2.4% of players finished the main missions and 0.6% finished the bonus campaign. I understand that the cryptic task descriptions, totally lacking instructions and crippling limitations are part of the challenge, but the bizarre non-binary fantasy CPUs etc. are hard to bear for programmers and puzzle players won't like the programming. Admittedly, some parts of this remind of performing a layout, creating an algorithm or writing code, but everything is so weird and twisted that it's neither really fun nor educating. Even counting opcodes for raster line effects on a C64 is more fun than messing around with 1 or 2 registers, 9 or 14 instructions per CPU, without a stack, without any binary operations (shift/and/or). Normal IO ports can range from 0..100, "xbus" ports from -999 to 999 which results in weird things like a high level is "100" or moving "101" to a multiplexer creates 100,0,100. The "xbus" construct is not really a bus and a major PITA with its totally inconsistent "blocking" design. Due to these silly restrictions, you need to split everything on multiple CPUs causing all kind of blocking or timing issues that you'd never have even on the lowest end CPU from 1982. This forces you to create ugly hacks which teach you the opposite of proper design. My main gripe is that with the more complex puzzles, it's somewhat impossible to create a working design at first trial. Your initial design won't work due to some missing opcode, impossible connections or bus issues. Plus you need to reverse engineer the expected signals but you can't really examine them without a running system. The resulting multiple design cycles are exhaustive and frustrating. The best thing I can say is that the solitaire is pretty nice.

First things first, it's not the game for everyone, it's the one of "for geeks by geeks" - the ones that comes with tons of documentation. Also it forces the use of assembler based language, and some people might have problems with switching to low-level instruction thinking. But, if that doesn't scare you, nor does circuit theory you're right at home - or rather at work. As the game introduces the player to the mechanics, there is a feeling of evolution. You start with handful of parts, and are to construct simple circuits. As you progress more parts are unlocked. The game seems to be alive, you get mails from coworkers, even idiotic newsletter from HR. The circuit designer is very intuitive, plus first assignments are kind of tutorial, so you should have no problem with diving in. Prime example of easy to learn, hard to master. After finishing the assignment, you also get some nice graphs showing how well did you fare, considering 3 points - lines of code, power usage and actual cost. Also, the mounted in minigame, said solitare is ace, ideal for when you need a break, to stop seing impulses sent when you close your eyes. Very refreshing twist on freecell. And I'm not saying that just because her father is my boss :P To sum up, it's definitely not for everyone, but definitely worth its price, and definitely worth checking out. :)

A very hard game intended only for programmer and engineering minded players. Think before buying, as the game is incredibly hard. On the other hand, it is incredibly satisfying to master as well. Shenzhen IO nominally provides 30 puzzles to be solved (plus an extra campaign of about 10 puzzles). However there is more than meets the eye. Solving the puzzles is hard, and solving the puzzles efficiently is even harder (and there are histograms comparing every submitted solution). Creating the best solutions (and if you like the game, you'll want to) can increase the play time by an order of magnitude. I have been at it for about a year (occasionally firing it up to solve a problem) and I've yet managed to do about 70% of the puzzles with optimal solutions. The game is good both for "casual" play (casual still being incredibly hard, but focusing on advancing the story) and for obsessive "gotta-catch-them-all" style, going for optimal solutions. Besides there is a sandbox mode in which you can simulate any device you want. There have been many wonderful projects done in the sandbox, with videos in Youtube. It's wonder that gives and keeps giving. 4 1/2 stars.

I was waiting for this game since it got announced and didn't disappoint. As others mentioned, you puzzle with circuit boards and code. How you do things is up to you, there are probably hundreds of different solutions to each problem. The story is one thing I would like to mention. It is less dark or fantastic as in TIS-100 or Infinifactory (also great games), but you do get constant messages from your colleagues. There is Carl the psycho, the HR woman (forgot the name) and many more. Some of them have weird ideas and you help with out. As you progress, the company becomes more and more successful. We just made it into a group to take part in a much bigger and important project...