Too many bad ideas and seriously naff optimisation make this an ordeal not worth enduring. Thank you for the refund GOG!
An all round excellent game with one glaring weakness: naff controls. I played it with a 360 pad and when you don't have to move fast everything is okay, but when you need some speed, which is quite often, poor integration means anything tricky will probably have you going back to the last save point when you repeatedly get squashed, electrocuted or blown up. Otherwise the game can't be faulted. Great graphics, good music, enough variety to stop it getting bogged down and a zany sense of humour that very nearly makes up for the aforementioned shortcomings.
This looked like it had a lot going for it when I picked it up and for the first few levels I indeed had an enjoyable time. However, the puzzles pretty soon became a case of same old, same old (admittedly it must be difficult creating yet another brainteaser based on the same limited dynamic), but later on some were so irredeemably awkward and irritating that any pleasure I was still having quickly dwindled. The music also began to grate and it became clear that the story (what there is of it) had been tagged on as little more than an excuse to break up the puzzle solving monotony. Perhaps its because the character you play as is a mechanical as opposed to living thing, or simply that the game was ultimately too thin and quickly overstayed its welcome, but as of this review it has been relegated to the 'have another go if I haven't got anything better to do' pile, which is both a disappointment and a shame as the initial impressions were good.
Undoubtedly a worthwhile game, but frustration quickly takes over as the difficulty spikes unevenly and trial and error take over. Too many tricky combinations between some of the checkpoints turn what should have been an out and out riot into a teeth-grinding slog to see if next time you'll be lucky and make it. Very clever and beautiful to look at, the hair-breadth timing, though clearly pleasing most, put me off.
