Sorcerer's Maze Review
| Rating: |   |
A very simple and addictive puzzle game with an emphasis on exploration and adventure. Beating the level is only a small part of this game - it's finding the secret items and exploring the hidden areas that give this title its charm.
Additional Info
| Developer | David Frankel |
| Genre | Puzzle, Adventure |
| Platforms | Adobe Flash Player |
| Engine | Adobe Flash |
| Webpage | http://bork.hampshire.edu/~david/maze/game.html |
Full Review
The Sorcerer's Maze is neat little flash game with quite a lot more than meets the eye. The premise of the game is a simple one, you play an adventurer called Clyde Michael, who finds a mysterious mansion built in the middle of nowhere and foolishly attempts to explore its depths. The game plays by requiring you to collect orbs that change the color of your character. While colored, you can walk into similarly colored enemies to destroy them and doors to open them. The goal of each level is simply to reach the stairs that lead to the next level.
However, the game isn't just all that. The great part about this game is how it rewards players who make an effort to explore the levels. Corridors only get revealed when the player walks into view of them, which means if you head straight towards the stairs, you will miss a lot of secret areas hidden in the darkness. These hidden places may contain items like additional lives, enemies, maps, keys or other surprises that will increase your endgame score and also give you the delight of discovering them.
According to the developers, there are 4 sorcerers that are hidden throughout the game that give you a better ending if you discover them, showing that exploration was an intentional and painstakingly designed part of the game.
The game is rendered in pixel art with a limited palette, and accompanied by an 8-bit soundtrack that loops in the background. This is a stylistic choice by the developer and whether it adds to the game or not depends on your taste. Personally I feel it gives a nostalgic vibe to the gameplay, and subconsciously decreased my technical expectation of the game to be satisfied by what it manages to deliver.
The game is definitely worth a try - it doesn't have a whole lot of levels, but definitely enough for some quality lunch break gaming. The game is browser playable with a Flash player at this website.
