Article: Fractal Review (PC) PLUS Free Giveaway

[Shawn Zipay]

Today's video review is for Cipher Prime's "music puzzler" game, Fractal. The game is just $6.99 (USD) on Steam. It is also available on Mac and iOS devices. Check out our video review below to see just what Fractal is all about.

Interested in a free copy of the game? You're in luck because we have a key for a copy of the game through Steam!

How to enter:

It's simple. Leave a reply below saying what your favorite puzzle oriented videogame of all time is.

Restrictions on who can enter: Fractal must be available in your region through Steam.
You must also have at least 3 non-spam posts made on these forums.
Registration date does not matter, but you must be a registered user here to enter.

Notification of winning: We will pull a winner at random from the posts below prior to Christmas. That gives you roughly a week to get your entry in for a free copy of the game!

We would like to thank Cipher Prime for providing to us a review copy of this engaging and quite addictive game.

[jimykx]

Re: Article: Fractal Review (PC) PLUS Free Giveaway

Another great review Zips. You really have potential for this

[dvereb]

Does Tetris count as a puzzle game? I'd love a copy since I've gone as David "FractaL" Vereb in cs for YEARS.

[teetsaar123]

From modern videogames, definitely Portal and Portal 2. I don't remember much about the nostalgic nes/dendy (dont remember how they were called) "cartridge" games but there definitely were some noticeable puzzle oriented games.

[Vreki]

Re: Article: Fractal Review (PC) PLUS Free Giveaway

Portal is the best, but of course it has the advantage of modern technology.
Tetris could probably be called the father of the current Puzzle trend.
But the first puzzlelike game i remeber is Boulder Dash : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulder_Dash

[Anarchy1]

Re: Article: Fractal Review (PC) PLUS Free Giveaway

I'm not old enough to remember most of the older puzzle games, so I will go with Portal 1/2. Tetris is my favorite "old" game though. I used to spend hours a day playing the Facebook version of that >_>

[Lil'Ruff]

Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine! played so much of that game, hope that counts as a puzzle game lol

[defy487385]

Tetris and Bejeweled. Always fun and anyone can just pick up and play.

[Vreki]

Re: Article: Fractal Review (PC) PLUS Free Giveaway

I suddenly remembered: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemmings_(video_game)

Now that was brilliant, and I spent a lot of time playing it on my Amiga 500

[K-16]

To answer the question, my favorite puzzle game of all time is Lumines. So hypnotic... I imagine Fractal's appeal involves drawing you back into that immersive atmospheric environment (redundancy intentionally used to emphasize how effective these games are to hold your interest). I'm still waiting for somebody to develop a game that is a cross between Rez/Child of Eden, Amplitude/Frequency, and Lumines/Fractal. Wouldn't that be a fine way to simulate getting high? And I don't mean each level represents one-type. I want a consistent overall gameplay that combines them all, and I want reviewers to complain about motion sickness as one crazy roller coaster ride for audiophiles.

However, in terms of what I remember fondly, I have to say they all of them consist of working with friends to solve puzzles within games whether they are part of the puzzle genre or not. From figuring out which evidence to present in PW: Ace Attorney for case 2 over the phone (I didn't even have a DS, let alone the game), to figuring out how to unlock the treasure chest that follows you in TLOZ: Link to the Past over a spaghetti dinner, to finishing The Lost Vikings (after being insulted by Thor so many times), to protecting those damn retarded lemmings (as Vreki said), to KILLING those damn fast lemmings before they reached the door (I think it was a parody game), to having meetings on where the damn clues are in each puzzle of Missing: Since January/Evidence (we only play in broad daylight), to holding Tetris tournaments in-class during summer school for Calculus using TI-83 Plus calculators; the teacher was writing on the board teaching about the chain rule with regards to related rates, so his back was turned for a long time while the entire class played Tetris at the same time. Everybody gave the scores to me at the end of the day as I was the scorekeeper (and created said tournament as I shared the game), and I would determine who won bragging rights.

But alas, the question was which is your favorite puzzle-oriented game of all time? I had to decide between Lumines and Tetris Attack (I considered Tengen Tetris, Klax, Sokoban, Chip's Challenge, Apple Puzzle, Minesweeper, Lode Runner, and Yoshi's Egg/Cookie, but none of them had enough lasting appeal to play beyond a year). In the end, Lumines multiplayer was more appealing to me than Tetris Attack, because I'm shallow enough to be attracted to modern technology. Tetris Attack had gameplay, while Lumines had more convenient multiplayer, transitive background scenes, and a much stronger focus on audio. Yet these features come from newer hardware advantages, so I can't say my opinion deserves to be agreeable or justified. Hmm... Come to think of it, Lode Runner and The Lost Vikings aren't puzzle games, are they? Oh well, those platformers still made my head hurt.

[SgtMattBaker]

Modern: Portal 1-2

Old school: Tetris for the original GB (I think it fits in the puzzle genre)

[Lil'Ruff]

Re: Article: Fractal Review (PC) PLUS Free Giveaway

I'm still waiting for somebody to develop a game that is a cross between Rez/Child of Eden, Amplitude/Frequency, and Lumines/Fractal.

Wow, finally someone else knows of these games and has the same thought, a mixture of these games would be awesome, pretty insane but awesome

[DJ_Casper]

Loving such puzzles. Would be appreciated if u give me the key. Love to play them on my work ^^

[dvereb]

so who won?

[Shawn Zipay]

Re: Article: Fractal Review (PC) PLUS Free Giveaway

Winner was selected and mailed their key. At their request they didn't want to be announced as the winner so being the good guy Zips that I am, respected that.