MouseCraft – Preview
You like ‘Tetris’ and ‘Lemmings’ and you love to puzzle? Well then, get your tetrominoes and your puzzle mood together because it’s time to play MouseCraft. Will you be able to get the mice to the cheese safely?
MouseCraft is a game developed by Crunching Koalas which combines the puzzle style of ‘Tetris’ by using the tetrominos while the goal is the same as ‘Lemmings’. Schrödinger, the crazy cat scientist, wants his machine to work. Nobody really knows what the machine does but we do know that it needs mice to be powered. You need to be the person that helps Schrödinger to get his machine to work.
To be able to get the mice to power the machine, you have to get past multiple obstacles. These obstacles vary between ledges that the mice can’t cross, to walls that need to be removed to let the mice through. Not all blocks are as harmless as the others. You might come across a TNT brick that blows up your mice, and we don’t want that to happen.
The player gets multiple bricks at his disposal; the figures that you get differ for every level you play. The blocks you get while playing a level are displayed on the top of the screen. You can get multiple bricks once or you can get them twice or more. The amount of a brick you have is displayed right underneath it. Not all blocks are just different in size or shape; some of the bricks have a special use. You unlock these when completing more levels. One of these items with a different use is the jelly brick, which lets the player drop mice from more than 3 units without it dying.
Not only bricks are used by the player to get the mice where they need to be, destruction tokens are there for the player to use when the mice can’t cross a block. These tokens destroy the block that is selected by the player and lets the mice pass the obstacle. The tokens can either be given to you at the start of a level or will be gained by letting your mice collect them. When a collectible destruction token is available on the map, you are most likely going to need it.
Besides the destruction tokens, the player also has to collect Anima Shards. These shards are used as currency in MouseCraft and you’ll have to collect them to gain the maximum level score. The shards are also spread around the level for your mice to collect.
While playing MouseCraft, the player has to follow the levels chronologically in order to unlock the new levels. A level is unlocked when at least one mouse is able to reach the cheese and give power to the machine. When not all three of the mice reach the cheese or when not all Anima Shards are picked up, the level will not be completed 100%. The player can come back to the level in order to try to complete the objectives that were not completed the last time. In order to switch out between levels, you are given a map that shows you exactly how many levels you’ve completed and how many levels you have left to complete. The map has multiple pages which gives you a lot more content to explore now and makes it easy to add more maps in the future.
When looking at the map, you can see which levels you have completed; these are marked with yellow cogs. Every different level state has a different color of cog to show you exactly what you need to know. The closest uncompleted level has a blue cog, the levels that aren’t 100% completed have grey cogs and the levels that aren’t unlocked yet are not yet mark with a cog.
After entering a level, the player sees the objectives he has to complete and the blocks he has to his disposal. You can also get destruction tokens at the start of the level which are displayed on the bottom of the screen. The player can place blocks either before letting the mice run or while the mice are running. When the mice hit a wall that is higher than 1 unit, they will turn around and try to find another way to pass the obstacle. This mechanic allows the player to place walls to get the mice to run into the direction he wants.
When a level is completed, the player sees the reward he gets. The reward that you get can be a new brick that you’ve unlocked or a new usable token. The game also shows you which of the objectives you have completed and which of them you haven’t as an overview of the level.
MouseCraft is a very interesting game; it lets the player think a lot more than other games, which gets the player excited after completing a level. The game has a lot of potential as a puzzle game. Getting rewards and being able to buy more at the store keeps the player busy and makes the game that much more exciting.
MouseCraft - Preview,
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