Overall as discussed in the video review this game is fairly strong in every regard. The gameplay controls and mechanics are simple and intuitive which works equally well on keyboards and touchscreens. The graphics and art style is clean and sharp which is optimized for mobile platforms and still looks great on PC too. On the puzzle side you have a variety of levels and elements with the harder levels adding on a creature builder for added challenge. So overall at this point there isn’t anything wrong with Incredipede on either platform.
The first issue I encountered was that the game ends up being rather short to complete if you stick to the normal game. According to Steam I had around 120 minutes on record when I completed the normal game with several hard levels as well. If you factor in that the hard levels take take at most 50% more time this would bring it up to a grand total of 5 hours or so at the somewhat slow pace I was playing the game at. But the more I think about it the more I realize that the playtime is a by-product of the real issue which is the limited amount of variety and tools for the sandbox.
Since this game relies purely on physics-based puzzles there should be a decent variety of stuff for players to learn and use as there isn’t anything else to capture and maintain your attention. In terms of creature creation the mechanics are simple as they simply consist of rotating rigid limbs. This means that the various puzzle elements must make up a fairly wide amount of variety, however this isn’t quite the case. The physics based elements are rather limited to water pits, rolling and moving objects and some wind which can be harnessed for flight. In terms of lethal elements there are lava pits which cause damage over time and simply falling off the level will force you to restart. Given one more mechanic and another chapter to make use of it would have made a big difference to the overall variety and flexibility of the game. Granted adding something else isn’t as simple as 2-3 lines of code and calling it a day either.
Regardless, Incredipede was still a very enjoyable and worthwhile game to play. The game plays well on both Android and Windows and given the choice I would go for the least expensive platform overall. It definitely isn’t a game for everybody out there but for those looking for a relaxing experience this is for you.
Excellent art style with fantastic clean and sharp graphics.
Simple and intuitive gamelpay mechanics.
Create Custom Creatures and levels with online sharing.
Certain levels end up being more luck than skill.
More included levels would have been amazing.
Navigating online content menu can be somewhat annoying.
Play time: 2h – Steam.
Completion: Full playthrough on normal with partial on hard.
Last played: December 10th, 2014 – 2 days before review.
Acquisition: Via Humble Bundle: PC and Android 7.