Poko’s Arctic Quest Review | TheXboxHub

A Sokoban Puzzler That’s As Black-And-White As They Come

I don’t bear in mind this in March of the Penguins or Blissful Toes. Poko is a penguin (frisbee hat, yellow jacket), and a harsh winter is coming. He must maintain a stockpile of fish, which suggests freezing them and piling them on sleds. Solely then will he be able to hibernate until spring.

Zoologists are in all probability elevating a questioning finger or two, however we’re going to imagine that Poko’s Arctic Quest’s precedence just isn’t realism. This can be a £4.19 funds puzzler of the sokoban variety, and its precedence might be extra like ‘make puzzlers cry into their cups of tea’. And, to be honest, it achieves that purpose very nicely.

Arctic based mostly sokoban puzzling, anybody?

Crate-Pushers Unite!

For those who’ve not encountered a sokoban earlier than then congratulations, you’ve prevented some of the prolific genres in gaming. It means ‘warehouse keeper’ in Japanese, principally as a result of it entails box-pushing. The goal of a sokoban is to nudge packing containers to their vacation spot by pushing them in cardinal instructions. The issues come from packing containers getting caught – as quickly as they’re in a nook, there’s no technique of pushing them out – and it’s essential discover house on your character to maneuver too.

Poko’s Arctic Quest is a straight-down-the-line sokoban. There aren’t any frills to this one – the blocks not being blocks and as a substitute being fish is about probably the most uncommon aspect. There are pushable fish, unpushable blocks to journey round, and the sleds the place the fish have to finally find yourself. Nothing will get added to that blend, as sokobans typically are wont to do. There aren’t any portals, bridges, keys or levers. It’s as pure as a sokoban may be.

One thing that sokobans can get unsuitable is the supporting options, however Poko’s Arctic Quest will get them proper. There’s an exhaustive Undo that may unwind each single transfer you make. There’s additionally a Retry operate that doesn’t require rooting round in menus. It’s just one button-press away. We’d have taken a touch system, however they’re unusual presumably as a result of they’re so laborious to code. It does imply that it’s doable to get caught and haven’t any recourse, although.

Pokos Arctic Quest review 2 — Are you able to assist little Poko out?

Bugs In The Bins

One oddness, not less than with our runthrough, was that the Degree Choose didn’t work correctly. If we ever give up to the Degree Secret display screen (lovingly rendered as a Tremendous Mario World-style 2D map), it wouldn’t present the right progress. It might say that we have been one degree earlier, which was a ache every time we used the display screen. We must re-do the earlier degree to regain our standing.

But whereas Poko’s Arctic Quest is bare-bones, it has a secret weapon. Its puzzles are top-drawer. We’ve performed extra sokoban video games than one particular person actually ever ought to, and this one’s designs rating extremely. The layouts are sometimes elegant, with solely slight asymmetry, and so they may even look benignly simple on first-look. However the issues to unravel quickly emerge. One sled is nigh not possible to fishify, or one fish looks like it could possibly by no means be made accessible. Then it’s onto an answer that may be dozens of strikes lengthy.

The reward isn’t constant for all ranges. The problem can peak and trough over the thirty puzzles, which feels odd from time to time. We went from puzzles that took us twenty minutes (and a number of Undos) to unravel, to a puzzle that wanted six or seven jabs from the analogue stick. We’re not fairly positive why Poko’s Arctic Quest does this. To offer us and Poko a break?

For achievement hunters, we have now principally constructive information. Poko’s Arctic Quest will internet you 2000G of achievements. You don’t even want to finish all the ranges. The catch is the issue: you’re going to want to work for it. The catch to the catch is that there are plentiful guides on-line.

Pokos Arctic Quest review 3 — An alright sokoban

It-s OK-Oban

As a self-confessed sokoban skeptic, I discovered myself having fun with Poko’s Arctic Quest. There was one thing discrete and uncomplicated about it. I may decide it up and full it in ninety minutes or so, and there wasn’t a single mechanic or impediment to study in that point. I used to be very conscious how the dearth of nuance made Poko’s Arctic Quest one-dimensional, nevertheless it was one-dimensional for a brief time frame, and that one-dimension was decently refined.

It might be honest to say {that a} sokoban puzzle recreation is simply nearly as good as the standard of its puzzles, and on that rely Poko achieves his Arctic Quest. These are fiendish layouts made by individuals who know what they’re doing. We are going to absolutely admit that there’s completely nothing else to get enthusiastic about, however we reckon that simplicity will attract a good box-pushing crowd.