Perchang: a marble challenge – Preview

We had the chance to preview this gorgeous, sleek, minimalistic puzzler for a couple of weeks now and we are still in awe. Perchang will present itself as a mix between the classic game Lemmings and Marble Drop: you need to guide a certain number of marbles to the goal in each level.

You will do so by operating some contraptions. May be a fan, a balancing board, a magnet, some gears; there are a lot of machines to use to get the marbles in the goal.

You will activate the various contraptions with the use of a button matching their colors. That’s where it gets tricky; you will often have more than one contraption to activate at different times. The ability to change the contraption color is very useful and even mandatory. After all, you simply can’t expect to hit your target by simply pressing a button and nothing else, can you?

Sometimes, using machines at the right time is your aim; such as with fans or with pinball flippers. Sometimes, just activating a see-saw type of lever and sitting back to wait until all your marbles come home will do the trick.

I find you make a good use of your brain with this puzzler. It’s not a static puzzle game where you can ponder your next move for hours, you feel the game is alive with Perchang. More often than once I found that pure skill was needed to be successful.

As if this wasn’t all very overwhelming, you have a timer to beat in each level. If it runs out, you’re out as well!

When the marbles hit home, they make quite a satisfying sound. And when your last ball is about to enter the goal, the game slows down and zoom right on it, in a Peggle-like manner.

One thing that annoyed me a bit is the fact that at the end of a level, you can tap to see the score of your Facebook friends. However, the text to do so is pure white on a very light grey background. It took me many levels to actually see that option at all. I feel it’s a design error that could have been easily prevented. Yet, this is such a minor annoyances that I didn’t let that prevent me from enjoying Perchang.

However, another thing that worried me a lot is how hot my phone was becoming when I was playing this game. I had to take a pause every 2-3 levels because holding it quickly become unbearable. It’s a weird problem to encounter!

Overall, I enjoyed playing Perchang. It has that balance between needing both skills and brains to enjoy it fully. It’s a breath of fresh air in your stuffy day at the office.