Psychoban A Dark Sokoban Puzzler for iPhone Which Entertains as Much As It Puzzles!

Psychoban Sokoban Puzzle iPhone

Psychoban Sokoban Puzzle iPhone

Psychoban [rating: 4/5]

Less than a month ago we reviewed a sokoban puzzle game named Warehouse51 and found it very enjoyable. Well hot on its heels we now take a look at another sokoban puzzle game, this time in the form of Psychoban.

Where Warehouse51 took a top down 2D view of the game Psychoban is a 3D puzzler reminiscent for me of the old school title Head Over Heels all be it with much stronger graphics and completely different game play!

The story line sees you in the role of a psychiatric patient. Your character is suitably dressed in a straight jacket but this doesn’t prevent him from pushing the crates around which he needs to do in order to facilitate his release.

Your guides on your mission to complete the game are an seemingly evil doctor and his assistant who’s banter offers a light-hearted relief between levels. During the initial levels they also guide you in the controls of the game and how to complete the puzzles.

The controls are via the touch screen; tapping on a square will move Mental Dude, (yes that’s your characters name), to that location, while tapping on a crate and then an available destination location will engage Mental Dude in moving the crate to that location.

Initially Mental Dude walks, jumps and pushes rather slowly which is rather frustrating, however his speed can be adjusted in the settings which enables the game to move along at a much better pace.

Psychoban Sokoban Puzzle iPhone 75

As with all sokoban games it often happens that you’ll push blocks into locations from which they can’t be retrieved and luckily there is an undo button to remedy this mistakes. You can also restart the whole level should you get completely messed up!

The are five asylums to complete each with 10 levels, completing each asylum will unlock the next and will also unlock a ‘postcard’ of that level. The postcard takes the full screen image that you could save as your wallpaper should you so wish via taking a screenshot to your camera roll, other than that the postcard seems to have little value.

The five asylums each have their own unique graphical style and all look great as to the quirky animations of Mental Dude as he goes about his business of fighting for his freedom.

Psychoban Sokoban Puzzle iPhone

The puzzles themselves are not as difficult as some other sokoban titles and the puzzles are certainly made easier by the fact that the available locations for moving the crates are highlighted when the crate is selected.

At $2.99 there are definitely cheaper alternatives to this sokoban puzzler but having said that it’s still enjoyable and at times humorous and it will keep you entertained for a couple of hours at least. Having said that the lack of any leader boards limits the replay value.

Pros

  • Fun and dark storyline
  • 50 sokoban puzzles
  • Simple control method

Cons

  • Relatively short
  • Limited replay value

Psychoban Official Trailer (iPhone)

Price: $2.99 (App Store)
Category: Games
Updated: Jul 05, 2010
Reviewed Version: 1.0.1
19.6 MB
Language: English
Seller: Diego Gabriel Ruiz
© Dedalord
Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.0 or later.

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