What happens when you combine the twisted word puzzles of Blocks With Letters On with the loopy physics and style of Hanna in a Choppa? The answer is Prose and Motion, a word physics game. That's right, word physics. Perhaps not surprisingly, this game is twice as fun as using dictionaries as dominoes. (And it's less likely to cause complaints from the people living in the apartment below you.)
The goal of each level is to spell out a word using all of the letters provided. Instead of typing or just sliding the letters, though, you get to drag them around the scene as if they were real world objects. The first letter of your word must lie somewhere within the shaded box, and the rest of the letters must be in a relatively straight line to register. Once you've got your word in place, release your mouse and if your word stays intact for about three seconds, you can move on to the next round.
With language puzzles such as these, there's always the possibility that more than one word may be right. Why spell "stop" when you can write "tops" instead? Prose and Motion streamlines this by giving every puzzle a word that is considered "perfect". You can guess the perfect word by looking at the level's theme or by checking out the written clue for the stage. Any valid word will let you advance, but it takes a bit more skill to get perfection.
To further complicate things, keep in mind that this is a word physics game, not a straight-and-dry spelling luau. Letters aren't always sitting right side up, meaning you can grab and twirl them in any direction you like. This transforms the letter E into M or W, H into I, etc. You might have to try several valid pseudo-anagrams before you hit on the right one.
Analysis: Even in such a hectic game that requires quick moves to get letters to stay in place, Prose and Motion still has a soothing atmosphere. Or at least, soothing in the way that Perfect Balance is soothing before you smash your keyboard through your monitor. (I wonder if this review is close to the record for cross-referenced games yet?) If you take your time and set everything up carefully rather than plowing through a level, you'll have a better shot at succeeding.
One tricky bit that you need to pay attention to is what registers as a "straight line" in this game. This is just speculation, but it appears that to register as "aligned", the top and bottom corners of letters need to be within a certain range of the previous letter's corners. If something isn't lining up properly, try rotating the offending letter just a smidge to see if you can get it within these margins. Luckily, there's a convenient display in the top-right corner that shows you what part of your string of letters is currently registering as a word, starting with the letter in the box.
With a little patience and possibly an anagram solver by your side, Prose and Motion is a challenging blend of word game and phuzzle to make for a nice coffee break diversion.
Walkthrough Guide
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Prose and Motion Walkthrough:
(Perfect Word)
A
EASY
B
RULES
C
SUPER
D
UPBEAT
E
CARESS
F
ELATE
G
ASTUTE
H
SPAN
I
ASSUME
J
ACCEPT
K
IGNORE
L
SEDATE
M
SECURE
N
HABIT
O
SLOPE
P
VEXED
Q
BATTLE
R
INTENT
S
RUSE
T
WASTE
U
WATCH
V
TIGHT
W
BROKEN
X
DECIDE
Y
ESCAPE
Z
DEBRIS
Bonus 1
MOFUNZONE
Bonus 2
FELINE
Bonus 3
IDEAL
Posted by: bufar | February 9, 2010 5:50 PM