The Casual Gamer by Jennifer Sandberg

Secret Labs (April 5, 2006)

To beat the end-of winter blahs I made a visit to the secret labs of some of the indie-world mad scientists. I didn't find any magic potions, but it sure did banish the blahs, at least for the moment.

Professor Fizzwizzle / Tube Twist

Prof. Fizzwizzle is the craziest guy of the bunch, carefully evading his hot-headed robots as he makes his way through puzzle after puzzle trying to get back to the main lab where he can turn their settings back to "friendly." The puzzles are interesting but quite challenging. I probably gave up on about half of them and had the professor show me how it was done, then I would hit my head with my hand and pronounce, "I totally should have been able to figure that out!" Usually then I would try to do it on my own before moving on to the next one. The "show solution" option was what kept this fascinating game from becoming incredibly frustrating, and being given the answer never dimmed my enthusiasm to try to conquer the next puzzle, in fact, I always felt even more sure that I would figure the next one out after taking those little sneak peeks. I think such an option would have saved Tube Twist for me. As it is, that one is best suited for patient and determined people with lots of time on their hands and no children begging for their attention. It is an interesting game of course. As a child I always enjoyed setting up pathways for cars, marbles, and the like. Linking various tubes together to get your balls from point "A" to point "B" thereby saving the world is a great premise for a game. It is well put together and it was interesting early on, but quickly became too great of a challenge for my busy and distracted lifestyle.

Cramgene

Cramgene is science at its best! Wasn't basic genetics just fascinating? In this game you get a funny little creature with a bunch of possible genetic contributors and you have to decipher his genetic code. The hardest part is doing it before the other guy does it first. You have to think fast, move fast, and have some luck on your side to succeed at this one. I rarely beat my husband, but I did have a lot of fun trying. It's such a great game; the only thing that it lacks is two-player mode. My husband would have to hook up the laptop so that we could play against each other online. It's not very convenient, but it is a lot more fun than playing against the cold, heartless computer opponent. The beginning levels aren't too hard once you get the hang of it, but the later levels are a lot more fun with a human opponent. Even so, this one's a keeper, it's one that I love to pull out and show my friends. Someday I hope to be able to play it with them (hint hint). In the mean time, maybe I'll get good enough to consistently beat the AI.

Dr. Germ / Chuzzle

Dr. Germ has a funky haircut and the requisite mad-scientist-glasses, but his hair isn't grey; maybe because Dr. Germ is all about color. All kinds of colorful germs are crawling around on Dr. Germ's squared-off Petri dishes. There are four games to choose from, but each involves destroying funky little germs by blasting or rearranging them. Dr. Germ and Chuzzle are for the scientist who needs a break from the deep, intense thinking and focus required in the other laboratories. Both games are based on color matching, which is not quite as mentally taxing as our other science puzzlers, but that doesn't mean they're easy, well, except for maybe the Zen mode in Chuzzle. Where Dr. Germ is more about speed, luck, and advanced planning, Chuzzle has more of a Rubix cube feel to it, though not quite as complex. There are several different modes that you can play, from the relaxing "Zen" to the super fast "Speed" to the "Mind Bender" which really tests your Rubix-cube skills. It's challenging enough for me, but my children love it too. They especially enjoy poking the little fuzzballs just to watch their reactions. OK, I like doing that too! Anyway, you fill up your flask with chuzzles until it explodes in a burst of little eyeballs—how cool is that. It's a task that the scientist in you is sure to love.

So, if you have ever wanted your own secret lab, now is your chance. Try your hand at genetic tweaking, germ blasting, energy conduits, or just kick back and tease some fuzzy little mutants. Help poor Prof. Fizzwizzle back to his lab, he really needs your help. He's got some great frantic-sounding tunes to hurry him along, but the little guy has got no moves. He can't even jump, but he is living proof that brain can triumph over brawn.

Download the games now and take your own look into some secret laboratories:
Professor Fizzwizzle
Tube Twist
Cramgene
Chuzzle
Dr. Germ

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By: Jennifer Sandberg
Posted: Monday April 03, 2006