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Carl the Caveman

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Developer: Alawar Entertainment
Publisher: Alawar Entertainment
Genre: Puzzle & Casual > Logic
Released: Mar 30, 2005
Players: 1

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- Carl the Caveman Review

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Carl the Caveman, developed by the Russian developer Ferocious Hamsters Team and published by Alawar Entertainment is a puzzle game, despite its jump'n'run appearance. Carl's goal is to collect enough treasures and mushrooms on each level to proceed to next. In order to do so, he has to overcome traps and puzzles by pushing large rocks into the right places, or sometimes crushing them with his club. Carl has one major handicap: he cannot jump, and is easily trapped in pits or between foes. The rocks are his only means to build barriers or bridges.

The game has three game modes, the Kids mode, which also serves as a tutorial. This one offers fairly simple riddles and only few dangers other than trapping oneself (more about that later). The second mode is the Logic game, which offers challenging puzzles with a time limit. Last, and probably the most fun for beginners, is the Arcade mode, which is a faster version of the Logic mode with simpler puzzles and much faster game play.

Carl the Caveman has a nice cartoonish 3D look and feel, and the animations are smooth, if scarce. Moving through the puzzles takes a while to get used to, but the ability to play the game both with the keyboard or mouse or a combination of both lets you get accustomed to the controls rather quickly.

But speaking of puzzles - Carl the Caveman has some very unforgiving ones. Because you can't freely move most rocks around, either because of Carl's inability to climb or a lack of space, it is very likely that you end up trapped or unable to reach a crucial point in the current level. This is aggravated by the time limit and some moves that require precise timing - if you screw up, you will have to start over again and repeat all previous steps in the level again - you will also lose a life.

This is particularly confusing since the game makes use of hidden pits and lots of trial and error situations. More often than not, you find yourself forced to start the level over again because only after you dropped a rock into a hole, were you able to step on it and find out that the treasures behind it are now unreachable.

Graphics: 8

The game renders a colourful, if overly bright world made up of blocks, plants, mushrooms, clouds and trees. Carl the Caveman's character and his opponents are cute and never menacing, though it is simple to tell friends and enemies apart without any explanation. The game has no violence, the occasional enemies turn into white puffs of smoke when defeated. The game's graphics are good, but could be better - some of the terrain tiles don't seem to match up nicely, and the 3D engine makes it hard to tell background, foreground and playing field apart. Sometimes, this effect is deliberately used in puzzles to confuse the player, which violates a fundamental principle of computer graphics, stating: "Never confuse the viewer."

Sound: 7
Carl the Caveman's music is original and pleasant to listen to, but the various pieces all sound alike. Also, the music seems to change at random, just when you've gotten used to the rhythm of the first piece, the game switches to the second. Other sound effects are minimal (i.e. very short), but good. You can plug your own MP3s into the game if you want (it's a documented feature).

Game Play: 8

The point & click control scheme may seem unintuitive at first, as does Carl's ineptitude when it comes to jumping or climbing. However, after a few minutes the game's controls become second nature, and you'll rarely make mistakes, despite the strange feel the movement has to it. Though sometimes because Carl can only move one square at a time, you�€™ll want him to walk a bit towards a ledge and he'll jump right off it.

Value: 7
The game comes with a large number of levels for both logic and arcade modes. The game runs smoothly and is stable, but offers very little that's out of the ordinary. Small gimmicks like the MP3 folder for your own personalized music don't make up for the lack of a puzzle/level editor, though. Also, there's no multi player mode and no online community associated with the game exists (yet).

Concept: 5
It's sad, but Carl the Caveman is not a fine specimen of the pushing blocks puzzle genre. Its jump & run look and feel conflicts with the fact that you usually don't die, but simply get stuck in a level - free to move left and right, but unable to get on with the puzzle. This burdens the player with the aggravating duty of killing the game character by resigning and pushing the "Again!" button at the bottom of the screen. It has always been a rule of thumb that death in computer games should be immediate and, if possible, be brought about by outside circumstances like gravity, monsters or a dwindling time limit. Having to personally kill off your perfectly healthy cave man dozens of times during the normal course of play just doesn't feel right at all.

Fun: 6

The game tries to be cute nonetheless, and makes you smile through means of funny situations and appropriate sound effects. A mushroom that kept teasing you and running away will utter a surprised "Oh" when finally cornered. The puzzles are challenging, and there is a certain kind of gratification you feel once you hear the door to the next level creaking open somewhere in the distance when you finally collected that last treasure. But often you are yet to find out that the exit is unreachable, blocked off by a rock you didn't drop from your starting location minutes ago. This is frustrating and unintuitive, and it provokes errors since the player is required to execute the exact same steps over and over again until a level is solved. Also, the use of hidden treasures or pathways that you are required to discover in order to proceed to the next level breaks some basic game play rules that have been established for decades. It's something that shouldn't be, and it just feels wrong.

Overall: 7
Carl the Caveman is certainly above average, thanks to its neat graphics and challenging puzzles. However, the difficulty is quite high even without the somewhat unfair hidden passages and treasures, which, unfortunately, are inevitable and will occur frequently after the first couple of levels. Solving a level takes quite a bit of time, and you have to solve four of them at a time to proceed to a point where you can resume play the next time. On the bottom line, Carl the Caveman is a neat puzzle game that should treat its�€™ players more forgivingly to keep them playing.

By: Moritz Voss
Posted: Thursday January 26, 2006