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| | Publisher: Grubby Games  Genre: Puzzle & Trivia | | | Min OS X: 10.2 |
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Now, I’m normally not one for puzzle games—my left brain went on hiatus before taking A.P. Calculus back in high school—but, as a tolerant person, I had to give Professor Fizzle Wizzle and the Molten Mystery a whirl. As it turns out, Grubby Games delivers a well-packaged title that can easily draw in platform-adventure-oriented gamers. The Professor, it seems, is on top of his curriculum. The Absent-Minded Professor When Professor Fizzwizzle discovers his former student Penny Pyroclast to be “up to no good” on Mount Mystery, Penny orders her henchmen to strand the professor on the beach surrounding the mountain. Throughout the course of the game, the player guides the Professor through a series of puzzles in order to reach Mount Mystery and prevent Penny from “embarrassing” Fizzwizzle Academy. Okay, so the story is a little vague and senseless, but the gameplay is what matters, right?In over 210 levels, you guide the Professor through a series of increasingly complex obstacle courses. The idea is to activate the exit portal while eluding enemies, and avoiding trapping yourself—a frustratingly simple task. Three level types (Kid, Normal and Advanced) guarantee a challenging experience for all audiences. I opted for the normal levels on my first round of play. They provided me with a healthy amount of challenge that didn’t stray too far into I’m-so-angry-that-I-can’t-move-that-stupid-magnet territory. The levels progress slowly, and logically. At the level selection screen, a chain of red dots spiral up the molten volcano, each representing an individual level. The first few levels warm you up to the gameplay, and begin to describe the properties of various items, and obstacles. For instance, objects react differently based on terrain. Pushing a wooden crate through sand is impossible, but shoving one onto ice will cause the crate to keep moving until it encounters an obstacle. As the player becomes familiar with the properties, the levels increase in difficulty and new properties are introduced. This cycle of ever-increasing-complexity really ups the ante for gamers seeking a challenge. Fizzwizzle is no picnic. In addition to the basic gameplay, a user-friendly level editor provides hours of nonstop stump-your-friends goodness. In fact, for a game without a dedicated multiplayer option, Fizzwizzle is great with friends. The game tracks the number of steps it takes you to complete a level, and you can download the scores of other players to see how you compare. After convincing my friend (an avid fan of Blockdude on the TI-83 Plus) to purchase the game, we challenged each other to flat out races up the Volcano. In case you were wondering, he usually won. It’s-a me, Fizzwizzle! From a Mario-like 2d perspective (sanz the scrolling), Professor Fizzwizzle is a colorful mix of sprites and cartooned backgrounds. The animations are smooth, cartoonishly exaggerated, and enjoyable to watch—you really have to appreciate a game in which the main character begins dancing when left alone. The menu screens are similarly colorful, and while they may turn snoody, graphic elitists away, I couldn’t conceive of any other appropriate scheme. In any case, most experienced gamers understand that a puzzle game is not held up to graphic standards of a modern FPS. If they get the job done, then good, if they complement the package (as Fizzwizzle’s do) they’re great.
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