Fantastic Contraption
Score: 95% ESRB: Not Rated Publisher: inXile Entertainment Developer: inXile Entertainment Media: Download/1 Players: 1 Genre: Puzzle
Graphics & Sound: When your Physics teacher said that you were going to have a lot of fun in class, it usually wasn't a good thing. When Fantastic Contraption says you'll have fun with physics, it's a very good thing. The concept is simple, fun and incredibly addictive - just as the legions of players who have lost hours of their lives playing the Flash version. Now, time away can be lost with the iPhone version. Fantastic Contraption is a basic package, though it is more complex than it initially lets on. Simple, brightly-colored shapes make up everything, including the levels and machines you build. The look works great for the iPhone and helps facilitate the gameplay. The real visual treats come when you get to see your creation in motion. What originally looked like a crudely built collection of shapes becomes a working machine, complete with realistic physics and motion.
Gameplay: The goal in Fantastic Contraption is to move an object into a "goal" area somewhere in the level. Of course, the easier something sounds, the more complicated it usually turns out. The objects can't move, tasking you with the job of getting them to the goal. Fantastic Contraption offers a limited number of parts to build your machines with. Three wheel types (Clockwise, Counter-Clockwise, Non-Powered) offer movement, while Two Rods (Wood, Water) hold everything together. Even with a handful of pieces, there's no limit to the types of contraptions you can build other than your imagination. The path to the goal area is never a straightforward one. The goal area can be anywhere on the screen and take a lot of trial-and-error to reach. Some levels feature obstacles like giant, moveable balls, gaps or other pieces of trash that you need to take into account. Fantastic Contraption offers a lot of replay value. The downloadable version comes with nearly fifty levels, as well as the ability to create and download additional user-created levels. After signing into the game's servers, you can tackle fifty random levels, the top voted levels or even look at people's contraptions. Creating levels is easy, but creating good levels is just as challenging as building contraptions.
Difficulty: Goal areas are usually big, offering a lot of freedom when it comes to moving objects around the level. However, getting the object there is usually a task. You can build just about anything your imagination can dream up, though you have to think about how the contraptions work while in motion. The physics engine behind Fantastic Contraption is fairly realistic, so if a structure isn't solid, it could crumble the second you press "Go." Of course, the engine can also give birth to some unintentional solutions. In one level, I was charged with building a contraption that could cross a gap. My original bridge-layer solution didn't work, but after letting the machine run for a bit, it managed to catapult itself across the gap. There's no time limit on levels, though you can earn special awards for quickly solving puzzles or creating efficient designs.
Game Mechanics: The mouse-based controls found in the Flash version transition well to the iPhone's touch-based screen. Grabbing and manipulating parts feels a little awkward when you first start, but after a few levels, they don't pose much of a problem. There are, however, a few times where you'll accidently delete or manipulate a part you don't intend to. However, this can usually be attributed to user error. inXile, the developer, put a lot of effort into making sure the touch-based control worked. You can zoom in and out on certain parts. There's even a window that pops up in the top right part of the screen just in case your finger gets in the way. If Fantastic Contraption has any major flaws, it's that for whatever reason, the developers didn't take into account that the iPhone is also a phone. You can save your contraption at any time from the main menu, but if someone calls while you're in the middle of a game everything shuts down, losing all of your progress in the process. While not an issue on the iPod Touch, it will cause problems for iPhone users, particularly if your iPhone is your primary telephone number. In the long run, this issue is minor and is something that can probably be remedied with an update. For puzzle fans, Fantastic Contraption is a great value. The first fifty levels will keep you busy for a long time and the downloadable content ensures near-infinite replay value.
-Starscream, GameVortex Communications AKA Ricky Tucker
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