The trouble
with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat.
~Lily Tomlin
Tired of the rat race? Forget life's torments and play a different
game all together. You won’t have to play a rat, just a game
with a rat. Reward yourself with Twilight Games’ Ratmaster,
recently ported to Mac OS X by Red Marble. It will not disappoint,
especially if you’re a die-hard puzzle mastermind.
Your mission is the get the rat to find the cheese. Simple enough,
right? To do so, you must move, slide or shuffle the board pieces
around in order for the rat to be able to find the correct path
to the ultimate reward à la fromage. The rat is constantly
moving and you can move any of the pieces around (if the board allows),
except the piece on which the rat is walking. Oftentimes, it seems
an impossible task, but just get your brain cells to generate a
synapse or two and you and Ratmaster will be on your merry, cheesy
way. You may even see some fireworks en route!
Yes, each time the rat finds his cheese you are also given a reward
in the form of festive, explosive pyrotechnics, a veritable 4th
of July just for you on your desktop. The rat will also do a dance
for you! It’s nice to be rewarded each time a puzzle level
is solved. Your efforts as a player actually do not go unnoticed.
It’s funny how many games just continue quietly after a level
is solved so you just accept it as is, not really thinking twice
about it. Only when I was indeed rewarded in Ratmaster with these
celebratory fireworks, did I realize that many puzzle games do not
give you the recognition you deserve. Bravo in the game design area!
Another feature that is notable in Ratmaster’s game design
is the ability to speed up the rat. Oftentimes, you can create your
winning path for the rat and speed him up to find the cheese for
your nearly instant firecracker gratification, instead of having
to wait for him. It feels good to be in control.
As you begin to get somewhat comfortable with the game and you feel
that everything's copacetic, something comes along and puts a twisty,
bendy, slithering bump in your road of gratifying fireworks. It
doesn’t mean the party’s over. Though, a challenging
element enters the picture, a serpentine obstacle to test your wits.
Enter scene right (or left): the snake!
And we all know what snakes like to eat, right? Oh, rats!
For obvious reasons, the rat will not be able to accomplish his
goal if the snake has eaten him. So where does that leave you? Right.
You (ironically) have to avoid the snake like the plague!
Other tricky elements are: locks and gates, which will impede the
paths of the rats and other beastly animals. There are also several
bonus pieces such as rotating tracks, keys, teleportation devices,
and conveyor belts to help your puzzle progress. I love (most) animals
and I’m not a violent person but my favorite is the appropriately
named, “Zapper” which is responsible for providing an
electric shock to any animals that touch it. Ouch. This is not simply
an innocent carpet zap, it’s a massive electrical current
that will not only shock the animal but afterwards, the animal will
be no more. Sniff, sniff.
There are a couple of things that just aren’t my cup of tea
in Ratmaster: the music, which can be turned off; and, the graphics.
Those things are players' personal likes and dislikes, of course,
and opinions will always greatly vary. These elements certainly
do not get in the way of enjoying the game play, so for me, those
things can be readily exonerated.
Ratmaster, thoroughly brain-teasing and entertaining, is a game
I recommend for the myriads of gamers in search of their next puzzle
acquisition. You’ll have 72 levels in the full version (4
levels in the free demo). If you’ve enjoyed playing other
puzzlers of the same family such as Marbles
Deluxe or Aargon Deluxe, you will probably enjoy playing
Ratmaster as well. But, if you haven’t played either of those,
and are looking for fun puzzle games, you (and the rat!) will nevertheless
find the reward you've been looking for in Ratmaster.
Ratmaster
for Mac and PC is $19.95
