Pong and Beyond

469th played so far

Genre: Puzzle/Platform
Platform: Various
Year of Release: 1992
Developer: Silicon & Synapse
Publisher: Interplay Entertainment

Grand Theft Auto, one of the biggest series in gaming, was created by a company that previously created the charming puzzler Lemmings. Blizzard, creator of juggernauts like World of Warcraft, Diablo and Starcraft, have had a similar game from when they were known as Silicon & Synapse.

Lost Vikings is a puzzle-platformer, featuring a group of three vikings who want to get back home.

Our Thoughts

There are a couple of good twists in this game on the basic platform formula. It’s nice enough to switch between the three vikings, each of which has a different abilities, even if it feels odd not to have a jump option on most of the characters. It makes for a nice way of having to carve three distinct paths through the level. Jumping allows for a different path, the shield helps other vikings get through as well as floating down deeper paths.

The game has levels that make great use of this, mixing abilities so all dwarves are needed. At times this comes down to taking the right actions, while at others it comes down to a puzzle, sending in dwarves in the right order. The best parts are probably where the two combine – sending dwarves in in the right order while having to rely on your reflexes to get it right.

It turns frustratingly complicated early on, in part because the (sometimes lengthy) levels need to be restarted if you fail, and losing even one of the three means that you haven’t finished the level properly and will need to restart it. There were a few times where it started to feel off-putting, but it was worth getting through that in the end.

Final Thoughts

There were times where the game felt frustrating – mostly around places where the game mixed between requirements, reflex and puzzle, moving and defense against enemies. Get past that, however, and the game becomes a lot of fun to play, challenging, but with some alternative solutions and interesting challenges. Really worth a look.