As some of you might already have noticed, Pangea Software recently released the sequel to one of the most spellbinding Mac developed puzzle games ever. [URL=http://www.pangeasoft.net/enigmo2/]Enigmo 2[/URL] takes the water drops that we loved in the original Enigmo and transfers it into full 3D. Besides that it also adds two new elements to guide home, laser and some kind of magnetic plasma.

Since I was completely sold on the orignal Enigmo (I downloaded the demo, played 3 levels, quit it, purchased it and played the rest… that’s how good it was), I was quite thrilled to see the announcement. I didn’t really start to play it until I could afford to buy it (I want to be able to save and just play a few levels every now and then)... and it is mixed feelings I play it.

So far I just love the addition of the laser. Playing with the focused light is such a precis tool and it’s so fun to guide with mirrors. The plasma on the other hand, while the most pretty thing my G5 has ever rendered in realtime, is a bitch to control. It’s slow flowing and chaotic, so every little movement you do with the magnet/black hole or whatever it is, takes forever to stabilise. This makes it a slow work to play with the plasma, but it is still fun… and really pretty to boost.

The biggest new feature is the third dimension though… and this is the really mixed bag. While the gameplay in 3 dimension adds so many more way to solve a puzzle, and so much more challenge to think out one that actually works…. it is also way to difficult to control. The camera is crazy to control and completely unintuitive. You set a reference point by clicking on an object, and it is around this reference point you rotate the camera. It may sound good on paper, but it makes things as "move slightly to the right" and "go over there" so hard to do that you often give up and just zoom out so far that you can’t really see what you do anymore. The good thing about these reference depth is that they also decide the depth on which new tools will enter the level in. This makes the tools easier to control in 3 dimensions, but when you get something in the wrong depth, there is a lot work to get it right.

So far I do enjoy the game, but it’s far from the souleater that the original was (where I "just one level more"d me through the full game the first time I played it). It’s more of a challenge, and could have been a lot more enjoyable with a bit more intuitive camera control.

I haven’t played too much with the level creator yet, but it is quite possible that there will be a Bork Map Pack in the future… if I don’t give it up and go back to the original.

Up until that first paragraph, I thought I was stuck in some gaming forum where marketing guru’s pose as gamers and hock their wares off… "spellbinding". I have nothing to actually add or say about the game however.

I’ve only played the demo and I kinda like it. It’s true that the 3D cam is awkward, and the rotation markers are too thin and don’t indicate movement enough. I really like the plasma though. It’s very pretty and tranquil, zenlike even. In a puzzle game I can live with the slowness.

I think I’ll buy this as soon as I’m through Resident Evil 4.

I don’t know about "spellbinding", but I did enjoy Enigmo a lot when it came out, and burned much midnight oil solving its levels and making my own (which never quite seemed to work).

I’m always leery about sequels that add [reverb=max]The Third Dimension[/reverb], especially when the original was already good. But I’m willing to give it it a shot, so I’ll try out the demo when I get the chance. There’s just one small snag… I just picked up Freedom Force in the bargain bin and I CAN’T PUT IT DOWN! :D

The camera is very hard to control for me. I would prefer some type of keyboard controls rather than a hotkey and mouse controls. Something like Home and End rotate left and right, and page up and page down rotate up and down, etc. The plasma is fun, but I found it really difficult to control as well. I couldn’t manage to get those darn things in the pot in the first plasma level in the demo. Second time they came about was fun though.

Things I like are the gravity switches and the laser. The laser isn’t nearly as hard as the plasma but gives the game some content. I like the updated graphics as well. For a sequel, I’d say it’s decent. Probably would give it a 7/10, maybe 6/10 depending on how I was weighing things.