Flash games have come a long way, baby. If the graphics aren't slick, the sounds aren't atmospheric, and the controls aren't top notch, many of us won't even bother. But every so often, you get a little diamond in the rough like this tile swapping puzzler from randomdragoon, Not to Scale. You may be thinking, "A tile swapping puzzle that looks like the final project for someone's Flash Programming 101 course? What could possibly be worth my time here?" And you'd end up missing a really enjoyable experience. By using slots for the tiles of varying sizes, and carefully selected photographs, the game gives you a unique spatial sense twisting challenge.
You click on one tile, and then click on another to swap them. That's it. It's the same controls you've seen on mini-games in escape the room and hidden object games over and over. But that simple twist, of making the tiles stretch and warp in different slots, ends up taking that frankly tired premise and spiking it up. It's one of those things that's difficult to describe... you just suddenly realize that you've been hunched over your monitor for ten minutes trying to tease apart a picture of an elephant. The photographs are well chosen and sliced in such a way as to maximize your confusion as to what goes where. You'll find yourself relying more on meta aspects like pixelation. There are only 12 levels, and the first three are more like tutorials, so this plays more like a proof of concept, yet it's compelling. I would love to see this fleshed out into a longer, and yes, more flashy and artistically presented game. But better a fun idea simply presented than a hyped up game with a boring core.
Walkthrough Guide
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Not to Scale Walkthrough
In general, pay attention to which pieces look pixellized/low quality (indicates they're in too large a slot) or warped (indicates they're in the wrong shape slot).
Level 1 - Goat Herder
Level 2 - Gingerbread Things
Level 3 - Tomatoes Galore
Level 4 - Hallway Arches
Level 5 - Pink Flowers
Level 6 - Cairo
Level 7 - Try Not To Think About Elephants
Level 8 - Chinese Seed Peddler
Level 9 - Happy Happy Hippos
Level 10 - Water Cube
Level 11 - Cathedral
Level 12 - Broadway
Posted by: joye
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August 4, 2011 11:55 PM