Prime Mover
- May 21, 2018
- 4Bit Games
Get on Steam"Prime Mover" is a challenging puzzle-platformer game where you manipulate time \ to solve complex levels. As the Prime Mover, you can rewind, pause, and fast-forward time, using these abilities to navigate obstacles and enemies. With over 60 levels and a level editor, players can enjoy hours of innovative time-manipulation gameplay.
Reviews
- The game features a unique and engaging puzzle design that encourages creativity and problem-solving, reminiscent of Zachtronics titles.
- The integration of nested circuits allows for complex solutions and adds depth to the gameplay, making it satisfying to build and optimize circuits.
- The art style and soundtrack are charming and enhance the overall experience, creating an enjoyable atmosphere for players.
- The controls can be clunky and unintuitive, making it difficult to manipulate components and navigate the interface effectively.
- There is a steep difficulty curve after the initial tutorial levels, which may frustrate players who are not prepared for the challenging puzzles that follow.
- Quality of life features, such as a blueprint storage system for previously created circuits, are lacking, leading to repetitive and tedious work when solving later puzzles.
- graphics24 mentions
- 42 % positive mentions
- 46 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are generally praised for their polished 8-bit aesthetic and charming art style, which enhance the overall atmosphere and enjoyment. However, some players find the pixelated visuals and blocky symbols hinder usability, making the interface difficult to navigate and text hard to read. Despite these criticisms, the combination of visuals, music, and engaging puzzles creates a compelling experience for fans of the genre.
“The visuals, style, music, and sci-fi setting are superb, which make this game quite pleasant to play, often unlike other games of this same programming genre.”
“I didn't expect this game to be as good as it was, but the graphics are very well polished, the puzzles are really challenging, the components force you to use some ingenuity, and you can do some really neat things with the tools provided.”
“Overall a good 'zach-like' programming/optimization game, with nice aesthetics.”
“I understand what the designer was going for with the stylized graphics, but usability suffers considerably as a result.”
“I really hate the pixelated graphics though.”
“The pixelated graphics are an active detriment to play.”
- music19 mentions
- 58 % positive mentions
- 26 % neutral mentions
- 16 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for its quality and ability to enhance the overall atmosphere, with many noting its fitting composition and enjoyable tracks that complement the gameplay. While some reviews mention that the music could benefit from a larger tracklist, the soundtrack is generally considered a highlight, alongside the appealing art style. Overall, the combination of engaging music and visuals contributes significantly to the game's immersive experience.
“The music, aesthetic, and overall atmosphere are a great bonus.”
“The beautiful soundtrack fits well with the mysterious setting, and the art is very appealing.”
“The music is by the same composer that made the music for the beautiful Owlboy, and being able to listen to such a well-packed collection of composed music while doing problem-solving is just perfect.”
“However, I like the visual design and overall puzzle design; if you manage to overcome the UI, the music is quite mediocre though.”
“Some of the songs are absolute jams; I wish it had a more robust tracklist.”
“The music is by the same composer that made the music for beautiful Owlboy, and being able to listen to such a well-packed collection of composed music while doing problem-solving is just perfect.”
- gameplay15 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 47 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by a blend of standard grid-based mechanics and unique features, such as an infinitely recursive board and challenging puzzles that require logical problem-solving. While the aesthetic and audio enhance the experience, some players find the mechanics can be repetitive and occasionally unclear, leading to a mix of frustration and satisfaction as they navigate through the game's complexities. Overall, the gameplay offers a rewarding challenge for those who enjoy tinkering and conceptual planning, despite some minor presentation issues.
“The appealing pixel art and the unique infinitely recursive board mechanic are just extra plus points.”
“The mechanics have enough quirks that it doesn't just feel like taking a coding tutorial.”
“As a programmer, I just can't get enough of this kind of gameplay where you get a logical problem/issue and it needs to be resolved.”
“Despite the charming and simple graphics style, or even the initially simple mechanics, this is a devilishly hard game.”
“Later you have to sort inputs with mechanics that present no apparent way to store or retrieve information, and then for the final puzzle you get to interpret commands and compute data.”
“There's no logic you implement, no mechanical integration to make things do more than just what's in the description.”
- optimization13 mentions
- 31 % positive mentions
- 46 % neutral mentions
- 23 % negative mentions
The optimization aspect of "Prime Mover" is well-received, drawing favorable comparisons to Zachtronics games, offering deep programming and optimization puzzles that encourage creative problem-solving. While the initial tutorial levels may lack challenge, the game provides ample opportunities for players to engage in meaningful tinkering and circuit optimization, making it appealing for fans of the genre. Overall, it balances accessibility with depth, allowing for both casual play and more intricate optimization challenges.
“So far, Prime Mover seems to have a similar level of difficulty to those games, and I would recommend it for people who like that style of game or who enjoy programming or optimization puzzles.”
“Prime Mover is very much in the style of Zachtronics games such as SpaceChem and Exapunks, and delivers optimization/programming puzzles that are about as deep as those in the best Zachtronics games, with a similar (somewhat imperfect) level of quality of life features and surrounding background visuals and audio (enough to feel like a game).”
“You can resolve it in the easiest way that you find, but the real thrill is in making optimized circuits with the least amount of components.”
“Because of this, though, Prime Mover becomes much more of an 'open-ended puzzler' than a 'problem optimization game,' if that makes any sense.”
“Unfortunately, my solutions are about as optimized as my former professor's lesson plan and execution.”
“Some of those histograms will leave you scratching your head wondering what you are missing until you have some critical insight - and I say this as a veteran Zachtronics player and high-performance computer programmer by trade.”
- story12 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The game's story is minimal and often obscured, presented through cryptic cutscenes and text that many players find difficult to interpret. While some appreciate the backstory and the depth it adds to the gameplay, others criticize it for being overly simplistic and lacking coherence. Overall, the narrative serves more as a backdrop to the challenging puzzles rather than a central focus of the experience.
“I love just about everything else the game has to offer: the aesthetic is flawless and consistent across the full experience, the obscured story was compelling enough to keep me pushing forward, the interactivity around the puzzle was a nice distraction when I needed it, and man oh man, the puzzles themselves are simultaneously extremely satisfying to solve, and extremely challenging; they had me experiencing the full spectrum of emotion.”
“The game has a story that unfolds as you solve problems that adds a bit of depth and mystery that is a nice touch for this kind of game.”
“Has a pretty interesting story mechanic as well.”
“In reality, the plotline is extremely simple and seems to be more of a backstory for a different game that isn't even out yet.”
“There is no real story here, only some cryptic cutscenes here and there to break things up.”
“The story is difficult to interpret and the puzzle design isn't very good because each level attempts to be more punishing than the last rather than provide an interesting alteration on the previous puzzle or give the player a different perspective.”
- atmosphere4 mentions
- 75 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is highly praised for its visceral design, rich lore, and stylish aesthetic, creating an immersive experience. The music and overall ambiance enhance the enjoyment of gameplay, making problem-solving feel rewarding and engaging.
“Designed in a very visceral, tactile way, and the game just oozes style and atmosphere.”
“I really did not expect the level of lore and atmosphere the game delivered.”
“The music, aesthetic, and overall atmosphere are a great bonus.”
“The atmosphere feels flat and uninspired, lacking the depth I was hoping for.”
“Despite the game's potential, the atmosphere is dull and fails to engage the player.”
“I found the atmosphere to be lifeless, making it hard to immerse myself in the game.”
- grinding3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be a mixed experience; while some challenges are engaging, others become tedious and overly complex, leading to frustration rather than enjoyment. The limitations imposed on puzzle-solving can transform what should be a fun challenge into a daunting task, detracting from the overall experience.
“These issues don't rise to the level of major frustration, but could have avoided some tedious rebuilding.”
“Then the puzzles rapidly become tedious and very difficult to solve with any elegant solutions.”
“The limitations the game imposes on creating the required circuitry layouts and conditional logic flow, to me at least, starts to cross the boundaries of being more than just a fun challenge that requires some higher level thinking into very daunting and tedious tasks.”
- humor2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is characterized by its clever use of absurd components that create a lighthearted atmosphere, even when faced with challenging puzzles. Players often find themselves laughing at the intimidating instructions and the whimsical nature of the game's design, which adds an enjoyable layer to the overall experience.
“You might not see these relationships with real-world hardware design due to the funny components, but there are direct parallels all over the place.”
“As of writing, I've only finished just enough puzzles to be able to see every cutscene, and when I took a peek at the instructions for the final level, I started laughing hysterically because it looked so intimidating.”
