Link ‘N’ Launch

Genre: Puzzle

Players: 1

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Review:

Link ‘N’ Launch is a Puzzle game released on the Nintendo DSi via the DSiWare service in 2010 and then grandfathered into the Nintendo 3DS eShop when that system was released. This game has players moving tiles to create a line to direct fuel to a rocket.

The presentation in this game is pretty good overall, using simple 2D visuals backed by an adventurous-sounding soundtrack. There’s not much going on here, but the cartoony way the rocket squashes and stretches when it blasts off is endearing.

For the gameplay itself, it’s a bit like the gameplay in Puzzle games like Pipe Dream, where you’re trying to connect a line from an input to an output. However, there are a few differences here. First, there isn’t just one input and one output – at any time there can be multiple sources of fuel, and there are always three rockets to connect to. The more fuel you put in the tank, the farther the rocket will go, and favoring one side over the other will send the rocket farther to the left or right, with too much of a deviation from the center causing a game over and forcing you to restart.

The other element here that I’m less thrilled about is that players do not simply slot in pipes/lines, but must move those that are already in the level, with these tiles flipping or rotating based on how many tiles are near them. The issue with this is that it’s not intuitive how to get the tiles to rotate the direction you want, at least not within the extremely limited time limits this game places on the player.

As a result of this, Link ‘N’ Launch is a Puzzle game that’s very charming and seems like it should be a lot of fun, but once the challenge warms up it just ends up being frustrating. I still think this is a game that some Puzzle fans will really enjoy, but it isn’t a game for everyone.

tl;dr – Link ‘N’ Launch is a Puzzle game where players move tiles to try to create lines that flow from a fuel source to a rocket. There are some good ideas here and an endearing presentation, but the unintuitive nature of the way tiles move and the steep difficulty curve make this a game that not everyone will enjoy.

Grade: C+

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