Button Brigade iPad Review

By , on August 1, 2012


Button Brigade
  • Publisher: Axis Sivitz
  • Genre: Action
  • Released: 31 Jul, 2012
  • Size: 24.0 MB
  • Price: $1.99
Download on the AppStore
4 out of 5

PROS

  • Easy to learn control system; helpful considering the already unique situation you're in.
  • Humorous interludes keep the mood light.
  • In-game 'menus' allow you to jump back and forth between areas and save progress.

CONS

  • Collision detection issues and 'bounciness' of switches add unnecessary frustration to already complex puzzles.
  • Puzzles spike in difficulty; halts smooth progression.

VERDICT

Part action-adventure, part puzzler, all buttons - Button Brigade is one of the App Store's stranger entertaining offerings on the App Store.


  • Full Review
  • App Store Info

In an action adventure game, coming across buttons to open up doorways and other passages to make your way around the stage is a regular occurrence. But what of these poor buttons? What do they think of their throw-away existence? Button Brigade answers that question, if only as a side note, thanks to a mechanical snake and a whole host of buttons that can manipulate the laboratory you're trapped in.

By tapping on the screen you can achieve one of two things, either moving your 'snake' or activating a button. Sure, this will help in some situations, such as switching off a deadly spinning button or cutting power to a fan, but the real fun begins when you double-touch a button... and take control of it. This is the core puzzle mechanic behind Button Brigade - find a switch you need, move it to where it's useful, rinse, repeat.

As to be expected it's not as cut and dry as that either - there are enemies that can also take control of buttons, something that's particularly nasty when those buttons can fire projectiles at you. If you manage to knock them out then you can take over their button, jumping from colored square to colored square like a hermit crab with an attention disorder.

While the puzzling aspect can be brutal in its challenge, this is more often a result of needing to learn or relearn game concepts you've not seen applied in such ways. As such the ride isn't as smooth as it could be, but at least you'll be entertained - the game is dotted liberally with amusing quips and 'cutscenes' that lighten the mood despite the intense atmosphere.

One couldn't accuse the game of being terribly pretty either. Its clean, yet functional design serves its purpose by making it easy to identify all the puzzle elements with a single glance, but you'll crave the new areas you unlock if only to get a change of scenery.

Don't get us wrong though - Button Brigade is a seriously addictive and at times genuinely hilarious title that attempts to create an entirely new way of looking at puzzles. For what it's worth, it succeeds, if with a bit of teething problems thanks to poor puzzle scaling and fiddly controls.

If 'unique' is something you crave in a new title, check out Button Brigade.

Screenshots

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