A fun platform puzzler that manages to channel a lot of mechanics and vibes from other games, yet still feel novel and fresh.
The obviousA fun platform puzzler that manages to channel a lot of mechanics and vibes from other games, yet still feel novel and fresh.
The obvious comparison here would be a 2D Portal-like, and the comparisons you'd make are good ones--interesting gun/tool mechanic, each puzzle and level builds on the last, and the game milks the mechanics only long enough to leave you satisified and with a good taste in your mouth.
I played through with a mouse and keyboard, and the aiming system and puzzle design reminded me a bit of A Boy and His Blob, where you use a cursor to aim your shots, and the movement mechanics of Melter Man himself reminded me of the Commander Keen franchise, where there's a little bit of a wind up and a little bit of a skid on either side of a button press. The combination of these things took a little bit of getting used to, but the controls are consistent and feel fair.
Early on, you can mostly take your time to play with the melter tool and use abundant ammo/material to solve puzzles. As you progress, the material you need gets harder/more dangerous to come by, and you have to get a little more creative to get through. Levels are short, though, and checkpoints are placed before especially tricky sections, so the penalty for screwing up and getting yourself killed is relatively small, which lets the game be challenging without becoming tedious.
Of all the games I could reference to explain what this game feels like, both in terms of the scope and the types of puzzles, "Meta Gun", by Notch of Minecraft fame, would probably be the closest, especially during some of the puzzles that involve setting up chain reactions to clear out obstacles and enemies.
Melter Man is pretty upfront about what it is. You melt stuff, you suck stuff up, you make bridges and platforms to get through levels, and you periodically have to kill some homicidial toys (or, really, make them kill themselves). Not much in the way of story, but it's clearly designed to showcase its melter tool mechanic and some clever level design.
At $2.99, this game is a bargain. 10/10, would play again.… Expand
