Not the Ace of Base Album | The Bridge Review

<p>Ok&comma; so you like thinking puzzles&quest;  Try these on for size&period;  1&rpar; If you have 2 bottles of beer&comma; and you add 1 more&comma; how many bottles of beer do you have&quest;  2&rpar; Giving your answer in Klingon&comma; what is the square root of 3687643098&period;287257&quest;  3&rpar; Why is what&quest;  4&rpar; If you take a Poodle and a squashed tin of lemons&comma; what is the colour of Bob the friendly mongoose&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Confused&quest;  Great&excl;  That is what The Bridge excels at&period;  It is a rather quirky little puzzle game&semi; the indie brainchild of just 2 people&period;  It attempts to blend the artwork of the renowned M&period;C&period;Escher&comma; with equally twisted physics-based puzzles&comma; into the format of game&period;  If you have ever seen Escher’s artwork&comma; you will know that this is no mean feat at all&period;  It is a convoluted explosion of impossible&comma; intersected architecture and abstract ideas&period;  Not only that&comma; but the game’s art-style is in the form of a black and white lithograph&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>To give fair credit to the dynamic duo behind this title&comma; the visuals are incredible&period;  Not only does the artwork serve as a backdrop&comma; but it is also the basis for the puzzles themselves&period;  It is safe to say that The Bridge has hit new ground with this aesthetic&period;  That said&comma; art for the sake of art in a game can sometimes be a hindrance to the gameplay&period;  Generally the gameplay of The Bridge is not adversely affected in this way&comma; aside from the lack of definition in the black and white colour scheme&comma; meaning it is sometimes hard to see exactly what door you just unlocked&comma; or which key needs to be collected&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;39847" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-39847" style&equals;"width&colon; 1920px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignright"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;the-bridge-review&sol;the-bridge-pc1&sol;" rel&equals;"attachment wp-att-39847"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-39847 " src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;02&sol;the-bridge-pc1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"What's chess with a hole in the middle&quest; - 'Ch ss' actually&period;" width&equals;"1920" height&equals;"1080" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-39847" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">What&&num;8217&semi;s chess with a hole in the middle&quest; &&num;8211&semi; &&num;8216&semi;Ch ss&&num;8217&semi; actually&period;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>So&comma; back to the puzzles&period;  The Bridge delights in giving you a puzzle so patently simple that you imagine you are pretty smart for solving it so quickly&period;  Then it will rub that in your face by throwing something so soul-destroyingly awkward and nonsensical at you&comma; that you question your very will to live&period;  It feels as though some puzzles were properly planned out&comma; and well-executed&period;  Then other puzzles were in production&comma; and an accidental slip or fall led to an unexpected solution&comma; which the devs decided to keep&period;  So although the majority of the puzzles can be solved by canny thinking&comma; some are just a case of trial and error until you clumsily stumble upon the answer&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;39848" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-39848" style&equals;"width&colon; 300px" class&equals;"wp-caption alignleft"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;02&sol;the-bridge-pc2&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"size-medium wp-image-39848" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2013&sol;02&sol;the-bridge-pc2-300x168&period;jpg" alt&equals;"As tangled as my only attempt at knitting&period;&period;&period;" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"168" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-39848" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">As tangled as my only attempt at knitting&&num;8230&semi;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>There is also a small matter of genre confusion&period;  The Bridge cannot decide if it wants to be a puzzle game&comma; or an action platformer&period;  Certain levels are pure puzzle&comma; but certain levels are almost exclusively based upon swift precision movement&period;  If a game manages to master puzzles and action&comma; that’s all well and good&period;  But the action sections are severely handicapped by the controls&period;  Your character is a clumsy fellow who slithers frustratingly at the slightest slope or angle&period;  There are also other control inconsistencies that make all action-based puzzles something of an ordeal&comma; rather than something enjoyable&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Bridge has attained huge critical interest&comma; and rightly so&comma; for it is a truly unique game&comma; with a unique twist&period;  It has a moderate lifespan of 5&plus; hours&comma; depending on your grey matter and digit-dexterity&period;  Part of that time will be spent in genuine enjoyment&comma; as you bask in the warm glow and smugness of knowing you were bright enough to figure out the solution&period;  And part of the time&comma; you will be tearing out your hair&comma; wondering why on earth logic has been abandoned in favour of a confused mess&period;  But&comma; there are certainly rewards to be reaped if you persevere through the clunky bits&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>By the way&comma; the mongoose was blue&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;