Totems Awakening
Some snoozing totems get a rude awakening in the aptly titled physics puzzler Totems Awakening by Forsh Vladislov and Krasnova Alina. Inspired by Soccer Balls' ball-passing mechanic and sometimes wacky Rube Goldberg-like contraptions, but somewhat refined and with a refreshing tropical twist. With 30 levels that are easy to comprehend but difficult to master, the game will attract both veterans and dilettantes of the genre.
The controls couldn't be simpler: just aim, paying attention to the yellow trajectory line, and click to throw the coconut. Veteran "phuzzle" fans may be scoffing at this and thinking it makes the game way too easy, but in fact, that's what makes the game possible. The game isn't about your aim; it's about figuring out where to click and when. Hint: fast.
Gold-starring a level requires not only perfection in cursor placement but also deftness. All the gold stars are certainly achievable, but it's doubtful you'll attain any on your first play through of a level, and some might evade you through many attempts. This grants replay value for the more determined players while not shutting out more casual players entirely. That said, the timing on some levels can be very tight, even if you've given up hope of getting the gold star, so there's plenty of challenge here even for those who just want to pass all the levels.
The aiming feels unnatural. It caused me to keep clicking on things at the top of the screen. Among other things, I have unintentionally clicked on the walkthrough button, as well as the one-star rating. I would have given it three stars though.
Nice challenging game. I have to agree, all of the hotspots at the top right of the game window need to be moved somewhere else, ... perhaps the bottom of the screen?
I third that. I gave up because the only place to throw made me keep clicking the walk through. It would have been a fun little game otherwise.
[I've disabled the walkthrough button so you shouldn't have that problem any more. -Jay]
I really like this, but like another poster said, I accidentally gave it one star trying to hit the idol on the second level. I don't think the star ratings for this one will be too accurate!
Decent enough physics puzzle, but when there is only one obvious flaw then I think everyone notices it. Maybe it's a glitch and not intended to be that way, but I don't understand why the aiming line is constantly about an inch under the mouse cursor. This adds not a degree of difficulty or challenge, just frustration.
Hint: Use a good computer.
I played on my laptop and it was [i]not possible[/i] to get a gold star on the first level, or presumably any level. You can test this by positioning your cursor to the shortest possible path, hitting R on your keyboard, and clicking the mouse immediately. If the timer runs out before the ball can fly through the air, you're screwed.
I just tried it on my desktop computer and had no trouble at all.
Yeah I had trouble too ... keeping the cursor in the game field, to aim w/o clicking Walkthrough. There was even times, where I wasn't clicking things. But not enough room to maneuver and aim.
Update