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Pipe Dream

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Lorenzo has written 23 additional reviews

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Written by Lorenzo

February 10, 2002

Comments

If I say "Lucasfilm Games", then what do you think about ? Well, graphic adventures probably; Monkey Island, Loom, Zak Mc Kracken, Indy & the Last Crusade... right. Anyway, Lucasfilm didn' t only make excellent graphic adventures, but also released a couple of puzzle games. Pipe Dream (AKA Pipe Mania) is their first effort in this area, and quite a good one too...


...so good that it was also converted to an arcade game. Yes, I mean, the ST version came BEFORE the arcade version, not the other way round ! Check out the screenshots ! The coin-op featured a few more bells and whistles, but basically it' s the same thing as the 16-bit version, with better graphics and not much more.


Graphics

Quite good, but not terrific. There' s a grid, lots of pipes, and not much more... sure, they' re quite well drawn, but you ain' t gonna see breath-taking, hyper-fluid animations in 16 levels of parallax scrolling, or stuff like that. Anyway, graphics aren' t really important in a puzzle game, or at least definitely not as important as a good gameplay.


Sound

Slightly above average. No standard YM chip music, but a few little tracker tunes instead. Pretty good choice, considering the soundchip's horrible limitations... all in all, these tunes are quite good, and make a good background for the game.


Gameplay

Simple and addictive. Your goal is to let a green liquid flow around in a grid through a series of pipes; as you go on, things get increasingly difficult, the liquid flows faster and you' ll have to build longer pipeworks in order to go on to the next level; some pieces of pipe allow the liquid to flow on only one direction, some parts of the grid are broken, and stuff like that...


Pipe Dream is incredibly playable. The difficulty level is really well balanced; the first levels are quite easy, to let the player get a good grip of the game; then it becomes harder, but never too difficult and frustrating. Just like Tetris, this is the kind of game that doesn't look or sound great, but can keep you playing glued to your monitor until 2 AM...


Conclusion

A great little game. Just like Tetris, it' s a game without age, still thoroughly enjoyable 13 years after its release. Highly recomended !





Score
  • Graphics: 6
  • Sound: 6
  • Gameplay: 9
  • Overall: 8

Review Comments

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Zone Warrior

February 12, 2023 by AtariCrypt

Once again, pesky aliens are giving us Earthlings lots of grief. We previously fought them off but they managed to pinch a time machine so are using that to alter history and wreak havoc by taking crucial hostages from each period in an attempt to halt their influence. From the invention of the wheel in prehistoric times to England's King Arthur uniting Britain! And where would any of us be today without Japan and its technical wizardry? Yep, we cannot allow this - the fight is on!

Son Shu Shi

March 21, 2021 by ST Graveyard

What an accomplishment this game is. Created with such a small team, the result is really amazing. The game oozes creative passion. While the gameplay is really well balanced, it is a tough cookie, very hard from time to time with its moments of sheer frustration. As of level 3, timing becomes key. You will need to practice and learn the levels to complete this game, there are so many bad guys on screen it sometimes gets a bit hard to take.

Blood Money

April 4, 2020 by Morcar

Graphically, it's also nice on the eyes with well-defined graphics and animation. You really get the feeling that the developers put some thought and love into the game. Remember what I said about the large levels? Well these are wonderful and are very different to each other, they also scroll fairly smooth in all four directions.

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