I’m crazy for casual games. I think whoever named them “casual games” was a nutcase – there’s no such thing. I agree there are casual gamers, absolutely! But, solitaire in the right hands isn’t casual; neither is Minesweeper. There are certain “casual games” that I have installed on my PC, laptop, Palm, Xbox 360 Arcade and phone – I kid you not. Magnetica by Nintendo emulates one of these games quite well; but don’t confuse it with other games on the market. A “bend” can be the difference between a stick and a boomerang.Magnetica is all about making groups of three colored balls – your standard “formula” of casual games but it’s not dropping balls or twisting – they’re in a line. You have to shoot a ball from a central point to the snaking line and hope you’ve aimed well and land. If you make three (or more) you clear that color. So, should you move a red ball into a line of two red balls you clear those three red balls. If there are blue balls on either side of the red they act as “magnets” and close together. Groups of three or more will clear and chains of matching colors will continue. Non-matching colors – yellow on one side, blue on another – will not act “magnetically” and hence not come together. And now your strategy begins.
The line is not straight; it curves in circles, ellipses, fan-folds and some truly evil shapes for which I have no name. After about level 15 in quest mode (a linear mode of progressing difficulty) you have two or more lines of beads heading towards one exit. Sometimes, you have two or more launching spaces to shoot from, sometimes not. Sometimes there are four lines, etc. The problem (and what makes this different from other games of similar design) is that the track the beads ride upon is simply so short, that there’s very little time to work at removing them all in time.
There are several modes to the game: Quest – puzzles of progressing difficulty; Challenge – significantly larger and longer puzzles of progressing difficulty (these easily gather 8 colored balls by the end); Puzzle – small sets of balls that can only be cleared in limited ways (and they’re hard!); and Multiplayer – you square off with the same puzzle against another player, sending useless silver balls their way for each grouping you clear.
Multiplayer is particularly fun because you can choose to throw “items” into the mix. Items consist of unique balls that cause black holes, smoke or any number of traps making it difficult for your opponent. *grins evilly*
I have many levels still to complete and need to work on some of my *cough* less impressive scores. Then of course, any chance I get I have to show off my prowess by stomping a new player into the ground - that is until they get the hang of it and the reverse begins to occur! I’ll never understand why puzzle games = casual games. Magnetica has kept me up several nights and I expect over the months will keep me up several more. Nope, not casual.
I'm a mother of two boys, ages 7 and 10 and live in the chaos that ensues. I've a permanent disability that keeps me homebound, so books, kids, games and books are my constant companions. Oh, and books, too. *grins*
My children both play games so I often play them first, getting to know exactly how something may effect my sensitive and easily stimulated older child vs. my stoic and imperturbable younger.
I like games for games; for the pure enjoyment of them and believe that no game is wholly bad, though some are real stinkers.
I also have the dexterity of a camel in mittens so find playing FPSs difficult (and I also don't like the gore) and RTSs at times can stump me. I just can't seem to move quickly enough to keep up with them. Some of my favorite games are arcade games and I'll spend 3-5 years on the same 5-6 levels because I just never get any better. But, I have fun.
