Crawfish Games Gets Creepy
Company: Crawfish Games Product: Creepsy: Monsters Never Have Enough!
Since 2009, the state of Louisiana has been making big moves towards luring videogame developers to the state, backed by an aggressive economic incentive package, which includes a 35% tax credit for companies developing games in Louisiana. One such company is Glasgow-based Firebrand Games, which set up shop in Baton Rouge earlier this year. Since then, the company, working under the local moniker of Crawfish Games, is developing games for iOS systems. The first of the company's three announced games, Cutesy: Quest of the Unicorn released last week to rave user reviews. This week, Crawfish is following up on Cutesy's success with the release of Creepsy: Monsters Never Have Enough!, also for iOS devices.
While Cutesy followed Bunty the unicorn's journey in search of love and acceptance, Creepsy tells the story of a monster who, disappointed with his creepiness, sets out to become even creepier. Although featuring a vastly different storyline than Cutesy, Creepsy shares the same gameplay DNA. Gameplay is similar to the sliding tile puzzles usually handed out in goodie bags at kid's birthday parties, but with an Connect Four-like twist. Rather than shifting tiles into place to create the image, you slide the tiles into a holding bin at the top of the screen. From there, you slide the tiles into place, though with restrictions. Tiles cannot stop mid-air; they need to touch another in order to stop. Otherwise, they'll keep sliding until they hit a wall or are jettisoned from one of three exit points surrounding the bin.
The premise is hard to describe fully, yet incredibly simple once you get your hands on the game. Within a couple on minutes you'll find yourself devising all manner of strategies to get pieces into place. However, you're on a timer and, as we all know, timers make people do stupid things. Thankfully, gameplay is forgiving enough that a couple of slides will get you out of any situation. It's simple, but something you can easily steal away a few minutes of your day to play. Just to gum up the works, items - like candy corn or UFOs - will slide into the bin rather than tiles. Pushing similar items (like two smiling jack-o-lanterns) into each other stacks them, while combining matching sets (candy corn and a trick-or-treat bag, for example) nets point and time bonuses. You can also slide the items into the bin to scaffold other pieces of the puzzle into place. However, items can overstay their welcome and disrupt your strategy by removing nearby tiles.
A Puzzle Mode variation, which plays out like a sliding tile puzzle, of each level is also available. Completing levels in both modes earns stickers, which you can then place on pictures snapped with your iOS device. You can even upload the images to Facebook to share with friends (or, Crawfish Game's Facebook page .) Both Cutesy and Creepsy are available for free on the App Store, so they're a no-risk investment. The free version gives you access to the first three levels and a handful of stickers. The full version - which comes with a big personal recommendation - unlocks all eight puzzles and all of the stickers.
-Starscream, GameVortex Communications AKA Ricky Tucker
Related Links: Creepsy: Monsters Never Have Enough! | iTunes Page Cutesy: The Quest of the Unicorn | iTunes Page Crawfish Games | Official Facebook Page Crawfish Games | Official Site Louisiana Entertainment | Official Site
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