Building dams in an old-school puzzler is fun, and I know where my water is.
Briquid is a game about bricks, water and movement. You have to guide water to target spots in a limited number of moves. A move can be either removing, or building bricks. It can also be changing gravity at those times the gravity arrows are shown on screen. At times I feel like I am building Legos, and at others it feels like I am playing a Where´s My Water with a lack of personality.
Levels are completed when you fill up the marked areas with enough water. If you run out of moves you have to start again. If you run out of options to what you can do, and have moves left you don’t get any heads up. I would have liked to know that I have messed up a level instead of having to restart myself. Feedback is always important.
The controls in Briquid is the only place the game lets the player down, and that is exactly where you don’t want to find shortcomings. With a limited number of moves available it is crucial that you don’t make them by mistake. Sadly this happens a lot both when removing, and building bricks. I haven’t kept count on the number of times I have had to replay a level due to this lack of precision. Even with practise I keep making the same kind of misses, and I have had to reduce my speed to a trickle. This works for most levels, but not all as some require swift moves when the water starts moving. I have been playing on an iPad Mini, and perhaps it is just a hair easier on the full sized iPad.
The presentation is another aspect that could be improved. While playing it is ok, but looking at the screen captures it looks quite boring. It isn’t, and this is why more visual flair is needed to draw more into it.
Briquid is a fun game that takes physics puzzlers an extra step by adding some freedom almost making it feel like building Legos, or Minecraft. I would have liked to have unlimited moves to really get the creativity flowing. This would also have minimized the frustration I feel when the controls let me down. With a few tweaks this could be a gem, but as of now it is a product showing a lot of potential.
Final Rating
Briquid $2.99 iPad only
