The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

On a whim, as I do, I picked up a game because it was cheap. (Only $2.50!) It is called Chains. This is its website, but don’t buy it from there, because even if the sale I bought it during is off by the time you read this, it’s still going to be cheaper on Steam, where I got it.

It is a small game, but a really great game.

There are many things that Indie games try to do. Many try to be artsy without being fartsy, but do tend to be a little farsty. Still, art games can be cool. I mean, I loved the shit out of The Path, for instance. But there is yet again another angle where indie games can go: Taking an idea, and exploring it completely. Putting time and effort into a concept that no big developer would try, just to see where it would go. That is what Chains is. I like it.

At it’s heart, Chains draws a lot of it’s gameplay from a Sega Swirl or something of that nature. You’ve got these colored balls. You click on one, and drag a “chain” along to other balls of the same color. If you chain at least three, the balls disappear. That’s basically it.

What happens, though, is that these balls are physics objects. They fall from the sky, into various stages. (There are 20 in the game in all) At first, you are tasked with just clearing them, but soon, the objectives begin to mix themselves up. Instead of clearing X balls, it suddenly becomes “Make a Chain of 40” or “Go for 5 minutes without 10 balls dropping off of the board.” Again, these challenges soon become old hat, but then the stages themselves start to change from simple containers to machines. Keeping balls from falling out of a cup is easy, but keeping them from falling off of the board when they’re sitting on top of timed pistons that send them flying every 10 seconds is much more difficult. They even add a completely new mechanic, that of “colorless” balls that you have to apply color to in order to solve puzzles.

That’s what makes this game a joy to play. Every stage is an extra layer of complexity upon what the last stage showed you. It is constantly building, more and more, and pushing this very simple mechanic to its extreme limit, and I love it. It’s fun to play, as most puzzle games are, and it’s always exciting to get to a new stage, look at it, and go “how the fuck am I supposed to do that one?” and then figure it out. It does require a little bit of fast timing and twitch reflexes in some stages, but most make for a very relaxing, mind-taxing kind of experience. It’s just really neat.

Would I have paid $10 for it? Probably not. I only have like 2 stages left. Would I have paid 5? Probably. And am I extremely happy at $2.50? Hell yes. Chains is an example of indie games done right. If you like puzzle games, you really should pick this up and try it. I think you’ll enjoy it. And to the developers: This is BEGGING to be on iPhone in some fashion. It would control perfectly on there. Make it happen, and make yourself some money, okay?