Plus N Minus – A cross between Enigma and Angry Birds
By App Type: Uncategorized
Our rating: 
By: Andrey Tsarkov
Version #: 1.01
Date Released: 2011-08-21
Developer:
Price: 0.99
User Rating:
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Plus-n-Minus, a new app available in the App store, is a puzzle game that is sort of a cross between Enigma type graphics, and a Angry Birds type of gameplay. Initially, this sounds very enticing, but the game itself needs some work.
The entire premise of the game is to get the Plus and the Minus together, and as you progress in the game there are more elements added to the levels to make it more challenging. At first, you simply touch “coils” that are simple blocks that will then disappear. You use the positioning of these coils to cause the balls to roll near each other, and when they touch they explode and you go to the next level.
As the game goes on, there are unmovable tubes, glass jars that are fragile but get in your way, and a variety of other items to give the game more playability. They are generally successful in adding more layers to the puzzle but towards the end they take a wrong turn. After taking a look at the overall structure, I will address that issue.
The game starts out in training mode, and the first puzzles are extremely easy. After training there is “Episode 1: Old Radio” which are levels that have a background of an old radio behind them. The puzzles get a bit harder, but not all that much. The next episode is “Episode 2: Old TV” where the background looks to be kind of like an old school emergency broadcast. The structure is exactly like Angry Birds in that you have these episodes, and there are twelve puzzles laid out in a grid with a rating from one to three stars. While that idea is a solid one, Plus-n-Minus assigns the point value and the star value it seems completely arbitrarily, and it’s hard to see why you got the points you did. On some levels, you may get three stars and over four thousand points, but on others you may get three stars and eight hundred points. That point difference is a bit confusing, and unexplained. Also, there are no transitions and story like Angry Birds has, which makes switching episodes a virtually unnoticeable thing.
In the last episode, they introduce fans halfway through, fans that rotate like windmills. Every other item they introduced has been a nominal increase in difficulty, but these fans seem to be more reliant on luck than timing or skill. It immediately makes the game much more difficult, to the point where you just want to give up. Additionally, with no Game Center support or really any tangible reason to care about stars or points, it’s easy to give up and just walk away. All in all, it’s an interesting game, a good concept, and the physics themselves are good, but it should currently be offered for free. Once users get to know it a little, and they improve the levels and add many more, then the price tag of a dollar is perfectly justifiable.
Quick Take
Value:Medium
Would I Buy Again:Maybe
Learning Curve:Low at first, then you hit the fan
Who Is It For:Angry Birds lovers, physics puzzle freaks
What I Like:The concept and physics rendition
What I Don't Like:The arbitrary scoring system and the last levels
Final Statement:It's not bad, but needs a version addressing these issues
Main features:
- Beautiful graphics;
- Realistic physics;
- Retina display support;
- Different game objects - lamps, field coils, power blocks and much more;
- Free updates with new episodes and levels.
