Grade: B+
Short Puzzle game about a wizard’s battle against gravity.
Wizard Battle is a short puzzle game that starts with a bang. There’s some cutscene at the beginning of a red and blue wizard dueling over a sandwich. Then, some abracadabra happens, and blam, one of the wizards, begins a long fall. As the blue wizard is falling, they’re casting magic to move rocks out of the way and avoid kersplatting. The process of moving things out of the way in the right order before you slam into them is the puzzle.
The game is just 40 levels and took me 30-45 minutes. There’s not a lot of content in Wizard Battle, but what’s there is smooth, challenging, and fun. The animation, sound, and music are all top-notch, and it’s bookended at the start and finish by a couple of hilarious cutscenes. I definitively enjoyed my play-through.
Puzzle layers get added on.
At first, the puzzles are simple. You have four moves to get the wizard through the blocks before they die. On each turn, you can move the blocks horizontally, left or right, in one of the four rows. The wizard falls as far as he can with each turn.
Later on, though, you have portions of the map that are full of poisonous gas and will kill you instantly. You also can try to navigate your way to the heart to recharge your health.
None of the puzzles feel impossible, and I didn’t have too much trouble. A few levels had me stuck for 4 or 5 minutes, but I could trial and error work my way to a solution.
Smooth controls and music
The developer implemented tight game controls, and the animation was really smooth. I loved the soundtrack, and that jangle will be playing in my head for days.
If you do beat the game, you’re greeted with an amazing outro cutscene. Of course, $5.00 is a steep price for such a short game, but if you purchased it in the epic racial justice bundle like me, it’s a great game to install and try out on a rainy day when you have a little free time.
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