[typing] [upbeat music plays]
This right here is Chuck's Challenge–
or Chuck's Challenge 3D, depending on where you look–
the follow-up to Chip's Challenge for the Atari Lynx and Windows 3.1.
Apparently, the rights owner for Chip and his challenge
wanted a bunch of money and were complete dicks to its creator, Chuck Sommerville,
So he created a Kickstarter that I happily backed,
and this is the result.
It was developed by Niffler, Ltd., and published by Nikidu Games
in February 2014 for mobile devices,
as well as for PC, Mac and Linux.
We'll be taking a look at the PC version here,
though you can tell it was optimized for things
like iOS and Android.
The menus, the characters and the level elements
are like an oversized dollop of cottage cheese:
big...and chunky.
The navigation of menus is just odd as well,
where you use the mouse like you would a finger on a touch screen.
But PC-optimization niggles aside,
start a new game and you're given a short intro
with Chuck Sommerville on vacation,
until he's zapped away by something called the Woop.
No big whoop. Just a little Woop.
This purple dude wants Chuck to create games for him,
which he happily does.
With his eyes closed, I might add.
That's just how much of a pro he is.
So it's your job to solve the puzzles as Woop.
And, yeah, he's no Chip,
but the little bugger does have charm, I'll give him that.
As for the gameplay, well it's Chip's Challenge 2.0,
and that's precisely why I threw my money at the screen in the first place.
If you're not familiar with that game, it's a tile-based, Sokoban-like thing
where you have an area filled with locked doors,
and hazards,
and it's your goal to collect the required items before exiting the level.
For the most part, it's the same game with new puzzles and a new look.
Like, you're not collecting chips here, but little glowing blue things,
and the enemies look different.
But a lot of the puzzle elements are the same,
like water, fire, ice, moving floors, etc.
And you still have the same types of power-ups
that let you circumvent these hazards where appropriate.
There are five sets of levels to complete with 25 levels each,
but the first selection more or less follows the rules of the original game.
When you move beyond these,
Chuck's Challenge really starts to open up into its own thing
with a slew of new enemies, hazards and puzzle components.
It never has to give you a dumb tutorial, either,
since the rules of upcoming levels are clearly laid out for you
with an easier level earlier on.
But don't let the first set of levels fool you.
This game can be just as brutal as its predecessor.
Well, it comes pretty close.
It's actually a bit easier,
with the ability to take back any number of moves at any time.
This means you don't necessarily have to restart the entire level if you screw up,
so no bummers here.
MAN: Bummer.
LGR: Time keeps ticking while you do this,
but it's far less rage-inducing to make a stupid mistake now.
It even asks you if you want to skip a level
if you suck to the point of shaming your ancestors.
The levels are also far smaller than many of those in Chip's Challenge,
and I assume this is because of the time and screen size restraints of the mobile version.
And when you finish off or rage quit the main game,
there is a fully-featured, easy-to-use level editor.
You can upload your own or download other people's creations
right from within the game.
Oh, and you can apparently get hats,
because...freakin' hats, man.
Why developers haven't shoehorned them into every game already is beyond me.
Personally, I find Chuck's Challenge to be a perfectly adequate successor
to Chip's Challenge.
It's more of the same kind of logic puzzle solving
with only a few concessions made for mobile platforms
and slightly more forgiving gameplay.
The full experience costs $9.99 on the PC,
and while it's free on mobile platforms,
it's got a bunch of in-app microtransactiony kind of stuff thrown in those.
But even with a few iffy changes,
if you enjoyed the original game, or just enjoy these types of logic games,
I'd give Chuck's Challenge a look.
[music plays]
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