Crayon Physics Deluxe

The Short


Pros
- Draw whatever you want to solve unique puzzles
- Follow simple rules to make things like levers, pulleys, etc.
- Fun idea that draw on both your inner artist and puzzle solver
- Lots of puzzles
- Playable on tablet PCs to get the authentic "drawing" experience

Cons
- Gets very difficult very fast
- Some puzzles seem to rely more on luck that actual drawing skill
- Physics can be a bit dodgy
- Drawing with a mouse sucks

Draw for the stars. 

The Long

Crayon Physics is a concept that "draws" on something we all wanted as a kid: what if our pictures came to life? What if we could draw something that was real? Using that idea and a system of simple rules, Crayon Physics is a puzzle game where you are only limited by your imagination. Or supposedly only limited. While fun for a while, the steep difficulty jump early on might turn a few player off, and those who just want to solve easy puzzles by screwing around might need to look elsewhere.

After a brief tutorial, you are on your own. 

Crayon Physics limits you to your imagination, with a few rules to make sure you don't totally screw it up. Draw a complete line (square, circle, etc) and it'll stick together; forget to attach it and it fall apart in a line. Draw a small circle and then something around it and you can create a swing, then attach circles to it to create rotating wheels. It eases you quickly into these rules, then sends you into more and more complex puzzles to utilize them. The first 15-20 minutes if Crayon Physics are downright magical: you really think this shouldn't work, but it does. For proof of concept, Crayon Physics does it masterfully.

Unfortunately, the fun sort of dies abruptly, mostly because the puzzles get irrationally hard very fast. I'm all for games to challenge me, but I also prefer to be eased into it, especially considering half the point of this game is the magic of just making stuff. By ramping up the frustration early, Crayon Physics turned me off pretty quickly, and getting stuck on a puzzle makes you feel less like a kid with a magic crayon and more like an idiot. 

You'd think with unlimited crayon powers this game would actually be too easy. 

Difficulty aside, Crayon Physics is a decent little indie game. It made a splash when it came out, mostly because the concept is so unique and cool, and it still impresses simply on that fact alone. It looks straight out of a kindergarten kid's sketch book, and alternating the colors of crayons as you use them is a nice touch. The music is simple as well, which provides a good backdrop to the visuals, and sort of takes the edge off the fact this game is brutal.

Doing weird stuff is the best part about this game. 

While I really wanted to love Crayon Physics (and everybody I've ever shown it to has been entranced for the 10-15 minutes they play it), it just isn't fun enough for me to really appreciate it. Luckily you can make or import levels of your own (or others), which helps you feel better about the difficulty, but I really feel like they had this great idea and didn't know how to utilize it. Like The Ball, Crayon Physics has really cool ideas that are poorly executed. I was hoping that with the "Deluxe" version of this game they'd rectify some of these problems, but they don't.

I still think it's a game looking into, because of the concept. But paying $10 for it is a bit much; I'd wait until it was on the cheap.

Two out of five stars. 

And thus the puzzle was solved.