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Penguin Puzzle
 Penguin Puzzle is a colourful strategy game for all the family. There's a story behind it but, really, it's just a bit of embroidery rather than directly relating to the gameplay. As it happens all the creatures of the North Pole have been trapped in ice, or icecubes to be more exact, and it's up to you to free them. They include polar bears, sea lions, penguins and a variety of fish and birds. And, yes, the developers do know that penguins don't hang around the North Pole, they're just there to make up the numbers. As you clear the brightly coloured icecubes from the screen their captives burst out of their prison and fly through the air making the game visually fun.
Everything is simple point and click, or drag if you prefer. You start out with just a few cubes randomly placed on the screen/board, and the idea is to make groups of four cubes of the same colour in order to explode them. Make a group and you score points, but this isn't always possible so instead of getting a reward you get more cubes. As the cubes can only be moved to a new position if there is a clear pathway (they can't jump each other) the more cubes that crowd the screen the more difficult it is to move. When there are no moves the game ends.
To make things more interesting you are alerted as to where each new cube will appear by a circle of spiralling dots of the relevant colour. This means you can work out strategies to group colours in advance or even limit the number of new cubes by 'gazumping' the position of a potential new cube so that it has to wait for the next turn. It sounds complicated but it isn't.
You can also aim to make groups in consecutive turns for more points, or make bigger groups, or you can form the bonus pattern that appears to the right of the screen and be rewarded with still more points ... and a bonus cube.
 Bonus cubes come in three types containing either a dynamite stick, a whirlwind, or a bouncing ball. Used judiciously they can clear up cluttered areas of the screen and prolong the game. At regular intervals you are presented with a different game board to earn more points, but for this one you'll have to play Penguin Puzzle yourself to learn what it's all about. As you play your level increases and the challenges get correspondingly more difficult with obstacles added to block the board.
Everyone can play this game. It has three difficulty levels the first being very simple and good for younger children ... matching colours for a reward with a bit of simple strategy thrown in. The medium level adds a layer of difficulty and the hard level gets fiendish with even more new cubes appearing and more blocked squares to limit movement.
Penguin Puzzle includes a step by step tutorial to teach the basics and if you want to spice things up you can turn on timed mode. Each level has a 'high scores' display where you add your name to the list. It's an absorbing little game; I've been having fun with it, so if you'd like to try it out you can download it from the Penguin Puzzle Official Website. The download allows for the game to be opened around 20 to 30 times which is more than ample to make up your mind if it's for you. If you like it then you can purchase the 'key' to play to your heart's content.
Copyright © Rosemary Young 2002.
All rights reserved.
System Requirements:
Penguin Puzzle runs in Windows, and needs at least a PC with Pentium (or compatible) processor.
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