CREATE review
Game Review | February 10, 2011 7:36 pm
By Melissa Evol
Create
Developer: EA Bright Light
Publisher: EA
US Release date: Nov. 16, 2010
Create is a puzzle game that was released with little to no fuss for the bargain price of $39.99. The first time I saw it, I was at Walmart and thought it was a Walmart exclusive, so I went home to look into it. The premise of create is... to create. It’s simple enough, you use every day objects to solve puzzles, or build a machine to do a specific job. Because my son loves games where you build things, I picked it up when I found it at Gamestop for under $30. The cashier warned me that she hadn’t heard good things about it, but I let her know I was purchasing it for someone who has spent over 40 hours just in Halo 3‘s forge mode, and whose favorite game is currently Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts.
With no plot to speak of, without voices or a soundtrack, the focus on this game really is on the gameplay. The gameplay is addictive and fun, somewhat like a DS game (think Scribblenauts, without all the writing). There are 2 parts to each level- spark chains and puzzle solving. Spark chains are basically a Crayola coloring book game (no, I swear, they make them!)- choose your color or stamp, point and click. Wheee (yawn). Then there are 4 types of puzzles: object puzzles- where you get an object from point A to point B, score challenges- where you get an object from point A to point B after essentially making an obstacle course to pile up as many points as possible, collection challenges- where you have to get an object from point A to point B while collecting sparks along the way, and contraption challenges, where you build a machine to help get an object from point A to point B. The bottom line is that you will always need to get an object from point A to point B. The challenge is usually that you have to use the objects that they want you to use, and you’re limited in the number of objects you can use. Get the grill across the screen to a pile of plates? No problem! Get it across the screen only using magnets and basketballs, and with a limit of 5 objects in the level? Now it’s getting tough. It’s a very limiting game, which is surprising for what it is, but without those limits there would be no difficulty to it.
A few words about the controls, they aren’t fluid enough, and there’s no sensitivity adjustment. There are a lot of times that the key to solving a puzzle is just nudging a piece the tiniest bit over, but the controls force you to send it flying across the board and you end up just having to delete the piece and do it all over. Plus the camera will fight you every step of the way. It wants to be centered on your goal object and as close as it can possibly be. When you need to see the whole screen as you're playing your "scenario," you're battling it the entire time- until, like a bully messing with a little kid, it suddenly lets go, and the camera goes flying across the screen and you don't see anything that's happening. It's just really poorly done.
The difficulty ranges from ridiculously simple to frustrating, with very little in between. Most of the puzzles are on the simple end- in fact most of the problems I’ve had have been over-thinking a really easy problem. When you’re stuck, it’s easy to get the solution, as people from all over the world have uploaded their solutions. You just have to go to the EA servers in the game, download their solutions, and then recreate them in your level.
A brief mention about the EA servers- I had quite a few problems with them the first day I played. That same day a lot of people were having problems with other EA games, so that may have been a fluke, but it has made me cautious when browsing solutions or uploading my own. Besides connection issues, the interface is clunky, and not user friendly. It’s not too tough to figure out how to do everything, but there’s no excuse for a game with this many tutorials to leave so much for users to figure out themselves. They don’t tell you how to go online, how to search for solutions, or what the icons mean in the online galleries. I’ve been answering questions from random people for a while, asking me how to get this achievement or that one to pop. It’s little things like that that make this game feel unfinished and frustrating.
The game itself- is too long. There are 10 levels, with 10 stages per level, plus 5 spark chains. Then, as you get closer to finishing up the 10 levels, it starts unlocking II levels. Theme Park II, Outer Space II, etc. There are 4 of those, and the problem is, they’re essentially the exact same thing as the other 10 levels. All of the levels are the same! By the time you finish the 10th, you’re burned out, and the only reason you’ll continue to play is to mop up the last of theachievements sparks. There are a total of 610 sparks to collect, and the last 150 are just drudgery. The puzzles don’t get more challenging, per se, but they let you use fewer and fewer pieces, which will end up making you pull your hair out.
Create was made for people who one day want to be engineers, I think... people who will beat the game, and then go back and just spend hours upon hours creating their own world, just for fun. This is probably easier in the PC version, without the controller issues I mentioned before, but even without that issue, the physics are just too unrealistic in parts. There are times when the physics are spot on, and you know if you did that in real life, the exact same thing would happen, but just as often, that’s not the case. Either way, there’s not a lot in the game that pulls me towards it- so for me, it has no replay value (although to an aspiring engineer, it may provide thousands of hours of enjoyment).
I’ll just wad up the graphics and sounds here. They aren’t spectacular. They aren’t bad, and there are some good sound effects for some of the parts, but that’s about it. The comparison to a DS game doesn’t stop at just the concept of a pick up and play puzzle game, after all. It’s disappointing in a game with really not much else to offer that they couldn’t have made a pretty soundtrack or incredibly rendered objects.
BOTTOM LINE: This is a puzzle game. It would have been a great idea for an arcade game. As a retail game, it drags on too long, and isn’t well made enough for this generation. I definitely feel that it’s worth the price, and if you enjoy puzzles it’s worth a pick up- just don’t expect to love it the whole way through!
FINAL SCORE: 6/10
Achievement Notes: There are 49 achievements, 14 online and 35 offline. As long as the servers are up, none of the achievements are difficult to obtain, or require playing with anyone else. None are glitched, and the offline achievements should all unlock as you play. Getting all 610 sparks is time consuming, not difficult.
Developer: EA Bright Light
Publisher: EA
US Release date: Nov. 16, 2010
Create is a puzzle game that was released with little to no fuss for the bargain price of $39.99. The first time I saw it, I was at Walmart and thought it was a Walmart exclusive, so I went home to look into it. The premise of create is... to create. It’s simple enough, you use every day objects to solve puzzles, or build a machine to do a specific job. Because my son loves games where you build things, I picked it up when I found it at Gamestop for under $30. The cashier warned me that she hadn’t heard good things about it, but I let her know I was purchasing it for someone who has spent over 40 hours just in Halo 3‘s forge mode, and whose favorite game is currently Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts.
With no plot to speak of, without voices or a soundtrack, the focus on this game really is on the gameplay. The gameplay is addictive and fun, somewhat like a DS game (think Scribblenauts, without all the writing). There are 2 parts to each level- spark chains and puzzle solving. Spark chains are basically a Crayola coloring book game (no, I swear, they make them!)- choose your color or stamp, point and click. Wheee (yawn). Then there are 4 types of puzzles: object puzzles- where you get an object from point A to point B, score challenges- where you get an object from point A to point B after essentially making an obstacle course to pile up as many points as possible, collection challenges- where you have to get an object from point A to point B while collecting sparks along the way, and contraption challenges, where you build a machine to help get an object from point A to point B. The bottom line is that you will always need to get an object from point A to point B. The challenge is usually that you have to use the objects that they want you to use, and you’re limited in the number of objects you can use. Get the grill across the screen to a pile of plates? No problem! Get it across the screen only using magnets and basketballs, and with a limit of 5 objects in the level? Now it’s getting tough. It’s a very limiting game, which is surprising for what it is, but without those limits there would be no difficulty to it.
A few words about the controls, they aren’t fluid enough, and there’s no sensitivity adjustment. There are a lot of times that the key to solving a puzzle is just nudging a piece the tiniest bit over, but the controls force you to send it flying across the board and you end up just having to delete the piece and do it all over. Plus the camera will fight you every step of the way. It wants to be centered on your goal object and as close as it can possibly be. When you need to see the whole screen as you're playing your "scenario," you're battling it the entire time- until, like a bully messing with a little kid, it suddenly lets go, and the camera goes flying across the screen and you don't see anything that's happening. It's just really poorly done.
The difficulty ranges from ridiculously simple to frustrating, with very little in between. Most of the puzzles are on the simple end- in fact most of the problems I’ve had have been over-thinking a really easy problem. When you’re stuck, it’s easy to get the solution, as people from all over the world have uploaded their solutions. You just have to go to the EA servers in the game, download their solutions, and then recreate them in your level.
A brief mention about the EA servers- I had quite a few problems with them the first day I played. That same day a lot of people were having problems with other EA games, so that may have been a fluke, but it has made me cautious when browsing solutions or uploading my own. Besides connection issues, the interface is clunky, and not user friendly. It’s not too tough to figure out how to do everything, but there’s no excuse for a game with this many tutorials to leave so much for users to figure out themselves. They don’t tell you how to go online, how to search for solutions, or what the icons mean in the online galleries. I’ve been answering questions from random people for a while, asking me how to get this achievement or that one to pop. It’s little things like that that make this game feel unfinished and frustrating.
The game itself- is too long. There are 10 levels, with 10 stages per level, plus 5 spark chains. Then, as you get closer to finishing up the 10 levels, it starts unlocking II levels. Theme Park II, Outer Space II, etc. There are 4 of those, and the problem is, they’re essentially the exact same thing as the other 10 levels. All of the levels are the same! By the time you finish the 10th, you’re burned out, and the only reason you’ll continue to play is to mop up the last of the
Create was made for people who one day want to be engineers, I think... people who will beat the game, and then go back and just spend hours upon hours creating their own world, just for fun. This is probably easier in the PC version, without the controller issues I mentioned before, but even without that issue, the physics are just too unrealistic in parts. There are times when the physics are spot on, and you know if you did that in real life, the exact same thing would happen, but just as often, that’s not the case. Either way, there’s not a lot in the game that pulls me towards it- so for me, it has no replay value (although to an aspiring engineer, it may provide thousands of hours of enjoyment).
I’ll just wad up the graphics and sounds here. They aren’t spectacular. They aren’t bad, and there are some good sound effects for some of the parts, but that’s about it. The comparison to a DS game doesn’t stop at just the concept of a pick up and play puzzle game, after all. It’s disappointing in a game with really not much else to offer that they couldn’t have made a pretty soundtrack or incredibly rendered objects.
BOTTOM LINE: This is a puzzle game. It would have been a great idea for an arcade game. As a retail game, it drags on too long, and isn’t well made enough for this generation. I definitely feel that it’s worth the price, and if you enjoy puzzles it’s worth a pick up- just don’t expect to love it the whole way through!
FINAL SCORE: 6/10
Achievement Notes: There are 49 achievements, 14 online and 35 offline. As long as the servers are up, none of the achievements are difficult to obtain, or require playing with anyone else. None are glitched, and the offline achievements should all unlock as you play. Getting all 610 sparks is time consuming, not difficult.
Rating: 6.0 of 10
Reviewed: Create™
Keywords: create, EA, game review; review
yea, I'll get this when it's like 10 dollars and have more time or somethin.
