Hook [Review by Uzzbuzz]Hook is a minimalistic puzzle game by the developer of oO and Zenge: Starborn that relies only on the left mouse button. The goal of the game is to redirect pathways in order to remove “hooks” in an order which does not cause any of the hooks to come in contact with another one.
Mechanics/Gameplay - The mechanic is simple, and works perfectly. Clicking on specified buttons sends a signal through a maze which retracts any hooks that the signal reaches. To beat a level, all hooks must be fully retracted, and you cannot retract a hook if another one is blocking the full retraction somehow.
The game starts out simple enough, with only the option to click the buttons in a certain order, or the first few ‘gimme’ levels, where you cannot possibly fail. As you progress through the fifty levels, the mechanic becomes a lot more complicated, with alterable pathways, wireless signal transfers, nodes that spread the signal, and more. Once you get yourself in the last few levels is where you actually have to stop and think, and make sure your signals are not accidentally retracting hooks that you don’t want retracted, but until then, it’s pretty much a cakewalk. Once again, the progression of the mechanic is spot-on. 8/10
Fun Factor - Quite short, but a pleasant experience. The game really caters to your logical side, and it never once should feel too overwhelming and impossible to figure out; even the final level! When I say short though, there is only about an hour of playtime. Well worth the price tag though, and likely to go on sale. I had some fun for the whole experience and would recommend it as a short puzzle game. 7/10
Graphics/Animation - There is not much to the graphics or animation at all, however the symbols are what I can talk about. There are no instructions, and nothing but visual aid to tell the player to figure out what to do. Granted, there’s only one button. but it gets complex enough to earn some merit. Not once did I have to wonder how to play the game at any stage of it. The game is composed of very simple shapes, with a soothing ‘color’ (gray) scheme. It works with the atmosphere. As for animation, all that is there is a simple translation of the hooks moving, or the odd time when the hook gets stuck on another. 6/10
Music/Sound - You barely even notice the presence of the sound in Hook. Imagine yourself slowly walking down a rainy street, with nothing else around but the silence of night. The music in Hook would be the theme song of that person. Sad piano, ambient rainfall and wind, and that’s pretty much it. There’s a couple sound effects for getting a hook stuck or changing level but nothing noteworthy. The overall feel does fit with the atmosphere well but it is not something you will pay much attention towards. 6/10
Replayability - No replayability. Just get through the fifty levels and exit is usually how it goes. It might be okay to come back to for a quick playthrough a couple years down the road once it’s forgotten, but other than that, there is nothing to do. I read some suggestions and one that would have been nice would be a counter for clicks/level so you can try to earn a medal for beating each level in the minimum numbers of clicks. This is not the case though. As I mentioned earlier, you won’t get much more than an hour out of this one. 2/10
Puzzle Design - The puzzle design is simple but superb. The level of difficulty is a gradual slope that never overwhelms, and doesn’t always feel too easy either. Once you start to get the hang of one part of the mechanic, another one will pop up. Eventually, even with all the mechanics seemingly mastered, working through all the wiring in the last few levels can still fire off your brain. Surprisingly enough though, the last level felt easier than some leading up to it, but maybe it is due to having a method of solving the levels built up, and being able to follow the connections and block off the right ones becomes trivial at that point.
The puzzles even tricked me a few times into trying to retract some hooks that I shouldn’t have. 7.5/10
Achievements - There is but one singular achievement in Hook: coupled with the short game length this makes it an easy completion. The achievement is for beating the game and shouldn’t take very long at all, and overall not a high difficulty puzzle game. 2/10
Pros:
+Bug-free
+Solid puzzle mechanic
+Growth of mechanic/puzzles done well
Cons:
- Very short
Overall Score: 5.5/10
3.0