Arctic Quest Review

Written by: Dustin Arient Published: December 16, 2005 Centuries ago, a brilliant but bored individual in China cut a square section of something into seven parts and found the bits could be arranged into a nearly infinite number of shapes and patterns, from abstract creations to the forms of birds and beasts. Thus was born the Tangram, oldest known ancestor of all shape-based puzzles and of Alawar Entertainment's game, Arctic Quest. Arctic Quest is couched within the story of an ominous figure known as the Snow King. Blanketing a series of tropical islands in ice, he threatens entire ecosystems of innocent creatures. The only way to free them is to complete a series of puzzles, filling in the silhouettes of fauna and animals with colored ice shards that rain from the heavens as you make your way to the stronghold of the wintry King. Graphics: Arctic Quest boasts some exceptional digital painting. Upon launching the game, a windswept tundra with snowdrifts, jagged peaks and an ice castle rising in the distance greets you. Animated snowflakes float like confetti from the top of the screen as a bleak arctic sun shines on the tableau - and that's just the main menu. As you make your way to the Snow King's palace, each stage has its own impressive backdrop, from palm trees on tropical beaches to icebergs drifting past sunken ships. Every detail is bright and drenched with color. The functional aspects of the game are just as crisp and artfully executed. The ice fragments you must place within the silhouettes look like cut jewels, and the menus fit cleanly into the visual theme. Everything about Arctic Quest's visual style testifies to the fact that it's still possible to create an eye-catching graphical experience in two dimensions. Ease of use: Arctic Quest's interface is as simple as it gets. Pick up pieces of ice as they fall by left-clicking, right-click to rotate them, then left-click again to place them on a desired spot within the silhouette. All other functions (such as bonus powers and menus) are accessed by clicking buttons on the right side of the screen. Almost nothing gets in the way of the pure puzzle experience. Two minor issues keep this category from perfection. First, I'd have loved a windowed mode, but Arctic Quest is full-screen only. I also wished for a way to turn off the tool tip bubbles, which appear whenever you hover the mouse over a menu button, but un-checking the "Show Hints" option doesn't shut off the tips. Gameplay: Arctic Quest is what all puzzle games ought to be. Its goals are direct and easy to learn, but the difficulty quickly ramps up to test every player's intellect and instincts. You have to think ahead several steps to excel, and time is always a factor. As you finish filling in each shape, you're rewarded with bonus items (in the form of fish with extraordinary abilities) that can make things easier in forthcoming levels, but you're also given extra points for getting the job done without using them. The game is fast-paced and intuitive, but not frantic. You can play for a few minutes or for an hour and have some genuine brain-teasing fun. The storyline of the Snow King's machinations adds some depth, but doesn't ever get in the way. The only things I'd add would be a quick game mode with the ability to choose from a selection of pictures to fill in or a multiplayer mode. Difficulty: The main objective of Arctic Quest is simple: fill in each level's pattern with the ice shards provided - and at first, it's easy going. Keep playing, however, and things become less cushy. The silhouettes become more and more complex and the rate of ice dropping from the sky increases. I found myself relying on the lifeline of the camp fire that appears in each level, in which you can melt unwanted chunks of ice. Doing so extinguishes the flame for a time, so you can't just incinerate all your excess ice. Although you can beat the first few stages by sticking any piece anywhere, you will soon reach a point where you have to make extended plans, taking into account the symmetry or asymmetry of the overall form, leaving room for all the possible ice shapes, and trying not to leave too many dreaded single-triangle gaps. Fail to balance all the elements, and you'll be stuck with an ocean full of ice cubes, trying to burn them as soon as the fire relights, only to have them replaced by additional useless ones. The sometimes frustrating challenge of the most complex levels, however, only increases the satisfaction of figuring out the cleverest, most advantageous way to fill in the picture and beat it in record time. Sound effects: Audio is a difficult area to review in puzzle games because the most common sounds are abstract rather than representational. I have no idea what manner of noise a hunk of colored ice would make if I rotated it 45 degrees, much less what it'd sound like if I sucked it off of a vertical surface with a tamed octopus. I just have to determine whether they're pleasing to hear and do their jobs; in Arctic Quest, they are and they do. When you rotate a piece, it makes an unassuming click. When you place it on the grid, there's a satisfying crystalline "ding." Alerts tell you when you're in danger of running out of time. Complete a level, and your assembled masterpiece twinkles at you, accompanied by a musical ditty. Not all of the noises are completely abstract. Dropping a piece of ice into the water surrounding the island brings a splash. One disposed of in the fire hisses as you'd expect a miniature iceberg to do if you melted it into steam. My favorite sounds come when you smash a piece of ice with a hammerhead shark and when another shark comes along and gobbles up all the items suspended in the water. As with the music, the effects come in the form of high quality OGG files, which seals the deal: Arctic Quest gets a perfect score in this category. Music: Arctic Quest packs some superb music (delivered in OGG format, which rivals mp3 in sound quality and outclasses the tinny MIDI files which often accompany puzzle fare). The smooth but playful instrumentals do a good job of enhancing the mix of tropical and icy atmospheres. I wish there were a greater variety of tunes, though. There are six themes in all: two played in daylight levels, two for night, one for the bonus levels, and the striking overture from the main menu. That might seem like quite a variety, but after one or two levels, the melodies blend together so smoothly it's hard to tell when one ends and another begins. Arctic Quest still earns four-out-of-five dragon heads in this category because it's so rare to find music of this caliber in a casual game. I just wanted a little more. Final analysis: It's rare for me to beat a puzzle game and still want to play it again. In the course of preparing for this review, I beat the game twice, and it didn't get old. Anyone checking the global score list will find my name in the second and third positions (at last count). I had the number one spot for a few days until another player bested me by over 100,000 points! (If you happen to be reading this, Severine, I admit my defeat at your skilled hands.) Arctic Quest combines classic shape-matching with excellent graphics, top tier sound and music, and an iceberg-sized chunk of atmosphere. Even someone who hates logic games with a passion couldn't avoid liking this title. If you're a puzzle connoisseur, you'll have trouble finding a better fix.