A Number's life Reviews

No way to regain hints when you need them... Otherwise a perfect game.

This isn't a good minimalist puzzle game. + Some interesting mechanics. + Puzzle sharing with others but there aren't that many people playing this. - There are a very limited number of hints. - Once you run out of hints, you are stuck forever, the only guide for this game doesn't have solutions for the more challenging puzzles.

I seriously don`t understand why this game is so unpopular. Seems pretty fun to me. It`s kind of a mathematical puzzle game where you have to add numbers and split numbers to reach the numbers you need. The campaign contains 80 different levels. I can confirm that they aren`t that easy... Additionally this game has a level editor and a community workshop. What would you need more?

This game is a solid little puzzler with clever mechanics, easy to control, and satisfying to complete. So lets go through all the flaws... With the game: No undo that I could see. A lot of the time this isnt as big a problem as it sounds, the levels are small and its easy to remember what you did before you made a mistake. On occasion though it really can make you audibly groan when you slip on a direction key. I might be alone on just how much this annoys me, but text and an arrow show up pointing to hints _all the time_, No! I dont want a hint! I didnt want a hint in the first levels, I didnt want a hint by the half way point and I dont want a bloody hint now Ive finished all the levels. I dont want one EVER! Its like having someone backseat game the entire time and it seems entirely pointless, the hint button is literally labelled with 'hint' it didnt have to be pointed out _at all_ let alone every 30 seconds. The community level issues: Editor apparently allows through levels that cant be won. (Im not actually sure how, but one is up in the list of levels.) There is no clear indicator for levels youve played and finished. Im not sure if there is a way of doing it but an option to grab up all levels would be nice. It takes me longer hooking in to steam than it takes to get, play, finish and rate most levels. Finally, achievements: 100 community level completion for one of the achievements? There are about 30 levels, most of them are test levels for people to get the make a level achievement. This is a trend in many games, I know devs really want an engaged community building more content, (and its criminal that the game hasnt garnered more attention.) but I really wish they wouldnt try forcing any ol completionist in to making things to get the achievements. The majority of people arnt level designers, most dont want to be level designers, by having those kinds of achievements you basically guarantee a load of trash being generated for the game, and thats exactly whats happened. Anywho, thankfully there is a level that insta-wins so you can just spam that if you want to get the expert rating. 40/80 levels finished achievements are broken. Ive finished everything, gotten all the side objectives, I even went back and used a hint to make sure that wasnt doing something odd, nothing triggers those achievements. Two or three people have noticed this with no response from the dev so it may never be fixed. Ive waffled a lot, but almost all of this is (hopefully) constructive nitpicking of faults in a game that is really quite smart, mostly well polished, and will keep you hooked for a good few hours for very little cost even at full price.

A "quick look at" review since my brain died and could not play more. But I played enough so far to know that this is a pretty cool logic puzzle game. And it has some jazzy music too, though it's a bit repetative. What you have to do is move the number tiles around, sometimes split them (i.e. 4 becomes two tiles of 2) in order to get the correct number tile to the green solution area. Sometimes it's just a number you have to match, like 2 and you have to split a 4 to get a 2 there. Other times there are the ">" greater than and "<" less than symbols, which I still get confused on even after all these years and have to think about it for a second. Sigh. I envy those who can glance at those symbols and instantly remember what they are without thinking hard. Use the up/down/left/right arrows to move the tiles around (Oh, and all times move at the same time!) and spacebar+direction arrow to split. So this is not one of those mouse click puzzle games. What makes it difficult is that all number tiles move together at the same time. So if you need to get a 4 up to the green spot and have a bunch of 9s in your way (9 is the highest number tiles can combine to become) then you have to manuver until you can get the 4 in the right spot and it can be tricky. Then there are barriers where once you move a tile past it, the barrier (gate or door or whatever it's called) closes and can't go back. That's when I quit...for now. Will definitely play more but am dreading what devious things the later levels have in store! Tutorial is great. There is dialogue as if the game is talking to you while explaining the rules and it adds character to the game instead of just pointers. Can't think of anything else to say. Hopefully I will update as I play more (usually I forget). Feel free to make comments asking questions or to remind me to update.