Good puzzle
games are hard to come by. Any fan of a Tetris clone could argue that there
are a lot of good puzzlers out there. But puzzle games aren’t fun in
repetition. They’re fun when they’re fresh and not like any other game we’ve
played. That’s what made Lumines an unlikely fan favorite at the launch of the
PSP, and why Tetris Attack is one of the few two-player SNES games people are
still playing (10 years after it was released!).
Sneaking in
through the back door is another puzzle game hoping to etch a permanent mark
in gaming history – PQ: Practical Intelligence Quotient. Not to be confused
with IQ: Intelligence Quotient, PQ is a sneaky puzzler. A hide-and-seek
puzzler. A game where you won’t create blocks to make others disappear; you’ll
use existing blocks to navigate toward the goal. That’s your primary
objective: arrive at the end of the level within the time limit, gain lots of
points, and brag to your friends about how intelligent you are.
As you can
tell by the screens, PQ’s graphic style is a lot like IQ’s. The levels are
laid out in a similar fashion. Suspended in air by an unknown force, the
purposely-blocky platforms hold the path to victory. What you end up having to
do is this: if platforms are separate from each other, chances are there’s a
movable block that can fill the gap. The tricky, clever – and yes, intelligent
– part comes in how you must go about getting the block and moving it to the
right place.
Blocks come
in many shapes and sizes. Squares and rectangles are old news and are
represented, but the cooler, more interesting blocks are Tetris-shaped pieces
that interlock with each other. PQ is nothing like Tetris, they’re two
completely different kinds of games. But these blocks – if you turn them some
ways they don’t go together, but if you turn them the right way they form a
shape. Hmm, that looks like staircase. What would I do with a—oh, right! Of
course! I’ll climb the steps to reach the other platform.
"You know,
this ain’t too difficult," I thought after passing the 13th level. There were
87 additional levels to be conquered, but I just love to jump to conclusions.
"Either that or I’m a genius!"
Not quite.
The game gets slightly more difficult during the 20 to 29 range of levels,
then begins its quest for player destruction once you get into the 30s. There
are still another 60 stages to get through once those have been finished. Do
you have the patience and persistence to make it to the end?
Besides
block moving, block stacking and interlocking pieces, PQ has stages with
moving floors and escalators. Hop on one of the moving platforms and it’ll
take you in the direction it’s currently moving. You can’t go back unless you
find a way back. The "practicality" comes from being able to look at the
entire level (the camera can be tilted a bit to see everything that’s out
there. Small levels only). If you’re intelligent, the game believes, you will
be able to figure out the solution just by looking at the level. You’ll only
get on the correct platforms and land at the goal very quickly.
What about
when you can’t go back? That’s when you have to use the Retry function, which
sends you back to the beginning of the stage and resets the location of all
objects (if there are any). It does not, however, reset the clock or give you
back lost points. When you fail a level, you fail a level. The game skips
ahead. You can go back and play through the failed level at another time, but
I really don’t care for this feature. I would’ve rather had the ability to
retry each level as much as I want until I got it right. Of course, that’s not
the point of the "test," which was what the game believes it is – a measure of
our smarts. I, however, am playing it for entertainment, not to test my
brain’s inherent abilities.
PQ has a few
different types of mazes, the first of which is a straight maze that requires
you to think like a mouse and find the cheese. Not really, but you get the
point. The second type is more adventurous: a map is shown at the beginning of
the stage to tell you where you should go. You’re likely to forget what you
saw as soon as you stop looking at the map.
Got a
photographic memory, you say? Lucky, but you’ll still have to deal with the
blue flashlight guys. They roam the level, shining their light in all
directions to catch intruders. These levels are very virtual and look entirely
fictitious, but the reason for these guards is to see how well players are at
avoiding detection. They have patterns – can you pick up on them? They’ll work
in unison – can you figure out how to avoid them at that time? These are
clever stages that result in a lot of, "Aw, not again" on the player’s behalf.
The third
maze type, dark mazes, send you into a room that prevents you from seeing
where your guy is going. How do you reach the goal when you can’t see what’s
in front of you? By memorizing and carefully following the arrow pattern shown
before you enter. It’s a weird system that causes frustration, but at the end
of the day I can’t help but think how clever all of these puzzles are.
Clever –
always. Intelligent – sometimes. PQ has a few illogical moments that’ll make
you scream. The first time I began to judge PQ’s intelligence was when I had
to push a block off other blocks to fill a gap that prevented me from reaching
the goal. There were two single-square blocks underneath that are supposed to
be stacked next to each other on the left side. That way you can push the
block right off.
But the game
does not explain that or give a logical reason as to why that’s the way it
should be done. Technically, since the block I’m pushing (which is the size of
two squares) can be pushed on a single-square box, the placement of the
single-square blocks should not matter. If they’re diagonal, the larger block
should still slide off them. But it doesn’t.
After the
fact it makes more sense than it does when you’re trying to solve the puzzle.
A newbie wouldn’t have figured that out without guessing or trial and error,
thus replacing the "intelligence" with "video game strategy." There’s a big
difference between the two.
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Gameplay: 7.9
Stock blocks,
interlock special pieces, navigate through mazes, avoid getting caught by the
blue guys with flashlights – this isn’t your everyday puzzler. PQ: Practical
Intelligence Quotient is an original puzzle game with a lot of interesting
ideas. The clock starts ticking the moment these ideas are presented. Every
lost second results in lost points. They deplete faster than the clock,
leaving you with nothing if the timer runs out. It’s at that point that most
puzzle games end, but in PQ you have what is more or less a backup clock that
gives you an extra three minutes to reach the goal.
Graphics: 7.0
Simplistic, bold,
color-base images that resemble the IQ series.
Sound: 6.5
Distinct, but not
memorable.
Difficulty: Medium/Hard
The first few
levels aren’t too difficult, but there are 100 of them! The latter 50 can be
very challenging. Puzzle nuts will go nuts (in a happy,
non-straightjacket-threatening way).
Concept: 8.5
Original ideas
and original puzzles that have been executed beautifully. The frustrating,
less-logical puzzles will raise a few confused eyebrows. Regardless, PQ is an
extremely original title.
Overall: 7.9
PQ is a puzzle
game of great variety. Just when you begin to think that mazes, conveyor belts
and stacked boxes are all this game has to offer, in comes another puzzle
type: weights. One (or several) large door(s) block the goal at the end of the
stage. Stand in front of the door and a few digits will appear. It seems that
when you carry special blocks over to the door, the digits drop. Could it be
that the door’s lock is triggered by weight?
The math is
technically simple, but you have a time limit to contend with, and each block
must be carried to the door from wherever it has been planted. There are often
additional, unnecessary blocks to throw you off course. The easiest way to
solve the problem is to find all the blocks, pause the game and add them up to
see exactly which ones are needed to open the door. But that’s not the way the
game is meant to be played. Play these stages without pausing and they’re
frantic, intense, and even a little exciting.
Overall
that’s what this game is – frantic and intense, but also one of frustration
and at times illogical confusion. This is definitely not for everyone. But if
you’re like me and love an interesting puzzle game, PQ belongs in your PSP
collection.
