Do Panic
Loco Roco + Lemmings + Worms + Lotsa fishies = Downstream Panic
Published: March 15, 2008
I love, love, love being pleasantly surprised by games, and that goes double for games that one would normally discount as being mediocre based just one concept alone. There were ample times where Downstream Panic could have faltered or broke out of the simple rule set that it created to try to do more, but instead it sticks rigidly to a core ideal that you're just supposed to get fish from a bubble created by a magical twister down to their proper home at the bottom of the screen.
Simple, yes, but not as easy as one would think for plenty of reasons, not the least of which are a pack of jabbering jaws just waiting to gobble up the fish just outside of the pre-determined safe zone. It doesn’t help that water always follows the path of least resistance, so all of the little bits and pieces of land that form impromptu dikes and levies, not to mention your odd spinning seashell gate and waiting piranha or crane just waiting for an entire pond of fish to come dropping into their waiting gaze, would make getting from point A to point B a little... difficult.
Ah, but it can be done, thanks to a smattering of ever-increasing tools at the disposal of one omnipotent being (that'd be you) laying out a series of growing plants (to block the flow of water), harpoons (to take out threats lying in wait) and bombs (to blow away chunks of terrain to allow boulders to fall and water to run in a set path). These by no means make up the entirety of the tools at your disposal, but the represent a decidedly Lemmings-like approach to getting your critters from one side (read: the top) of a level to the other (yep, the bottom).
Yes, we're talking about a puzzle game here, but what's truly surprising is that despite borrowing heavily from other games (look up, you'll see 'em), Downstream Panic still manages to feel surprisingly new. It borrows the terrain deformation from a certain group of adorable invertebrates, the sunny, simple graphics from a whole bunch of singing ones and ends up selling itself almost instantly.
Being a puzzle game, however, there are a few caveats that one must look out for, the most important being that there is generally only one "proper" way to get through a level. In talking with some of the other guys in the office, we discovered some slightly different routes, but as the game progresses and gets almost evilly difficult, the number of options gets whittled down to none. Once you unlock the ability to revisit levels, you can use items you've bought (with currency collected in those same levels) to get all 100 fish into their home if you wish -- something we didn't figure out until well into the game. It's a comforting thought to know that your insistence that I really would be impossible to get all 100 fish down to the bottom safely is proven correct... though it doesn't really make satisfying some of the normal goals any easier.
I wish there was more about the gameplay that I could gush about, but its simplicity is honestly the key to its success. Yes, there are moments where you'll have to pre-plan everything your fish do before hitting the Start Button to release them (bomb this bit of rock here, wait for the water to fill there, release this water gate here, etc.), but again, it never gets all that much more complicated than the rules set out at the beginning of the game; you simply have more options. When a new option is introduced, the game capitulates a little and notches down the level designs to help you come to grips with it all. Subtle, yes. Simple, yes, and tragically rather rare.
The overall tone of the game is undeniably bright and friendly, despite the fact that you're trying to keep a bunch of little fish from harm almost constantly. Even as they're sliding down the gullet of some bird or bigger fish, the little guys give off a valiant little cry. The rich colors, simplistic but effective cheery tunes and clean, precise level designs all add to up to an audiovisual package that shows remarkable self-assuredness. Yes, I know how retarded that much sound, but Downstream Panic just sort of "gets" itself and is more than comfortable with not trying to do too much.
The result is a game that is enormously charming, even as you rage to figure out why the hell those little guys are spilling through a one pixel crack in a wall or how in the world you can divert the flow away from two simultaneous threats. The challenge, though, is never so daunting that you get so frustrated you never want to come back. On the contrary -- Downstream Panic, like all good puzzle games, pushes you to figure it out without making it obvious -- and that's precisely why it's so good. And why you need a copy in your library.
Simple, yes, but not as easy as one would think for plenty of reasons, not the least of which are a pack of jabbering jaws just waiting to gobble up the fish just outside of the pre-determined safe zone. It doesn’t help that water always follows the path of least resistance, so all of the little bits and pieces of land that form impromptu dikes and levies, not to mention your odd spinning seashell gate and waiting piranha or crane just waiting for an entire pond of fish to come dropping into their waiting gaze, would make getting from point A to point B a little... difficult.
Ah, but it can be done, thanks to a smattering of ever-increasing tools at the disposal of one omnipotent being (that'd be you) laying out a series of growing plants (to block the flow of water), harpoons (to take out threats lying in wait) and bombs (to blow away chunks of terrain to allow boulders to fall and water to run in a set path). These by no means make up the entirety of the tools at your disposal, but the represent a decidedly Lemmings-like approach to getting your critters from one side (read: the top) of a level to the other (yep, the bottom).
Yes, we're talking about a puzzle game here, but what's truly surprising is that despite borrowing heavily from other games (look up, you'll see 'em), Downstream Panic still manages to feel surprisingly new. It borrows the terrain deformation from a certain group of adorable invertebrates, the sunny, simple graphics from a whole bunch of singing ones and ends up selling itself almost instantly.
Being a puzzle game, however, there are a few caveats that one must look out for, the most important being that there is generally only one "proper" way to get through a level. In talking with some of the other guys in the office, we discovered some slightly different routes, but as the game progresses and gets almost evilly difficult, the number of options gets whittled down to none. Once you unlock the ability to revisit levels, you can use items you've bought (with currency collected in those same levels) to get all 100 fish into their home if you wish -- something we didn't figure out until well into the game. It's a comforting thought to know that your insistence that I really would be impossible to get all 100 fish down to the bottom safely is proven correct... though it doesn't really make satisfying some of the normal goals any easier.
I wish there was more about the gameplay that I could gush about, but its simplicity is honestly the key to its success. Yes, there are moments where you'll have to pre-plan everything your fish do before hitting the Start Button to release them (bomb this bit of rock here, wait for the water to fill there, release this water gate here, etc.), but again, it never gets all that much more complicated than the rules set out at the beginning of the game; you simply have more options. When a new option is introduced, the game capitulates a little and notches down the level designs to help you come to grips with it all. Subtle, yes. Simple, yes, and tragically rather rare.
The overall tone of the game is undeniably bright and friendly, despite the fact that you're trying to keep a bunch of little fish from harm almost constantly. Even as they're sliding down the gullet of some bird or bigger fish, the little guys give off a valiant little cry. The rich colors, simplistic but effective cheery tunes and clean, precise level designs all add to up to an audiovisual package that shows remarkable self-assuredness. Yes, I know how retarded that much sound, but Downstream Panic just sort of "gets" itself and is more than comfortable with not trying to do too much.
The result is a game that is enormously charming, even as you rage to figure out why the hell those little guys are spilling through a one pixel crack in a wall or how in the world you can divert the flow away from two simultaneous threats. The challenge, though, is never so daunting that you get so frustrated you never want to come back. On the contrary -- Downstream Panic, like all good puzzle games, pushes you to figure it out without making it obvious -- and that's precisely why it's so good. And why you need a copy in your library.