CGR Undertow - FANTASY PUZZLE HAMSTER MONOGATARI review for Game Boy Advance

I thought I�d be raising Hamsters every Thursday for the rest of my life. Honestly, there are worse things to be doing, but every once in a while you just need a change of pace. Thus, while digging through the Pile o� Hamster Games sent to us by Felicity in Worcestershire, I was overjoyed to come upon A HAMSTER GAME THAT�S NOT ABOUT RAISING HAMSTERS. Instead, it�s about adorable hamsters solving puzzles. And I mean painfully adorable. You just wanna pinch �im. You just wanna pinch those cheeks.

I don�t know when or how I turned into my grandmother, but hopefully this means I�ll also be able to pull off her amazing feats of BAKING. Oh, and solving puzzles that involve compiling four puzzle piece blocks in a certain area of the screen. And this is where the hamsters� cuteness belies their penchant for pure EVIL. I sat for half an hour trying to puzzle this one out. And this is the FIRST puzzle... of the optional dungeon-tower lookin� thing on the outskirts of Hamstertown, which puts it a

bout 41st in the overall scheme of things. Still. Half an hour on one puzzle, when my only available actions are to pick up a block I�m standin� on, drop a block I�m carryin� in front of me, push a block in front of me, kick a stack of blocks to knock the topmost of �em into my hands, climb one-tile-tall ledges... but then again, that puts all the focus on order of moves and planning, rather than fast-twitch action. There�s a time limit on each stage, but since the screen doesn�t blank itself wh

ile paused as with most puzzle games of this sort, you can... well, you can sit there and puzzle for extensive periods of time. I was, eventually, successful in completing this puzzle... only to be handed an even MORE ridiculous puzzle in the next batch, with even FASTER spark-lookin� wall-travelling enemies. Fairly certain I recognize those jerks from Mario 2. Eh, long story short, I never did figure this one out. So, partially out of frustration and partially out of a respect to not see my ham

ster beat his head against the blocks after contemplating his own sad existence, dangling like a puppet on the string of a dope who should be better at these kind of games, I went into the level editor. (Represented on the map by a very Smurf-style Mushroom House.) It�s... well, it�s just what you�d expect from a level editor, where you can lay blocks wherever you want �em, add enemies, spikes, ladders, and hate. Or, you can load up levels you�ve already played and tweak them a little bit, in ca

se you didn�t think Culture Brain was devious enough in the first place. Sure, it�s not exactly Catherine, but for a third of a GBA game (part of the Puzzle & Tantei Collection) it�s rather impressive in its evilness. You�re constantly working in small spaces, where you might not be able to carry a block to get it out of your way, or you might remove the one support that gets you out of a tight spot, as there�s no way to place a block directly under you. You�re given just enough tools to win, wi

thout actually making the game any semblance of �easy.� And that�s a sign of a respectable puzzler. Kinda reminds me of some of the NES Hard games like Solomon�s Key, where a bit of platforming is tied to a thick slab of �Where the hell do I have to go in order to not die?� It�s Solomon�s Key with Hamsters, and a bit more difficulty. And hamsters wielding MAGIC. I�m now officially terrified, how about you?