|| REVIEW || Perchang (PC)

Developed By : Perchang, Twistplay                           Published By : Chilled Mouse
Category : Puzzle, Indie                                                  Release Date : July 23, 2019

Let The Balls Drop

It's puzzle week on the HG blog. For our second puzzle game this week, we find ourselves being tested in various ways on helping balls navigate to an end-level funnel in Perchang. Over a series of ten areas, you'll need to use the fans, pinball flippers, belts and even more items as the game goes on. Do you have what it takes to complete the levels?

Things start off simple at first, slowly introducing you to the concept of the game. There is a spout that will spawn small metal balls, a big funnel where a specific number of those balls need to end up, and a fair mixture of different obstacles which you'll need to utilize and navigate to get the balls from point A to B. 

All About the Journey

It's the obstacles in between the start and end points which will have your focus, since it is you who will be controlling them to help get the balls across. At first you'll be introduced to just a single item to control, but eventually you will get to control two or more. These items can be changed so they are either a blue or red color. Once the level gets going, the A key on your keyboard will activate the red items, while D activates the blue. 

There are four different grades you can get for playing the levels, ranking from Gold being the best, down through Silver, Bronze, and just completing it. Obviously, to see the game through to the end all you need to do is complete the levels. However, the difficulty is what you make it, so if you're aiming to get all Gold's, things will be ramped up massively and you'll need to be near perfect. 

After completing twenty five levels, you'll gain access to a whole new set of areas and levels in space. These levels continue to implement the mechanics you get used to in the base levels, with the new curveball of low and altering gravity. Lastly, once you obtain all five gold medals in a single area, you can unlcok that areas Gold Rush level. All this really is, is a bonus level which doesn't need to be completed, but it will take the new things introduced in that level and really test you on them.

Gold Medals...or Sanity? 

When I say you'll need to be near perfect, I mean that you'll actually need to be perfectly perfect. If you're up for the challenge, this game and it's medal system are definitely for you. However if you're looking for a more casual play, I highly suggest you don't even pay any attention to that rank timer. I, unfortunately, am one of the ones who feels a nasty itch if I don't get the highest grade possible, so Perchang definitely caused some rage for me. 

The first few worlds are pretty straightforward, but after about the fourth one, things begin to start feeling more luck based and random. Initially you have some wiggle room on the gold medals, being able to miss quite a few balls but still able to achieve that high score. Then, that wiggle room starts to get tighter and tighter, before you realize that you need to not mess anything up. 

As far as your sanity, if you can split your brain to pay attention to more than a few things at once, this game could be pretty easy for you. But if the mental multi-tasking has the potential to drag you to your wits end, I once again urge you to disregard the gold meter timer. You'll soon enough find yourself playing levels with three or four different types of item to control, and a rhythm that will feel virtually impossible to find. 

In the end, it's really hard to figure out what to say about this game. On the one hand, it's a ton of fun, and the idea that it brings forth is really great. However, some of the execution can be really frustrating. In my personal opinion, I felt that there were too many of the controllable items. Each world seemed to introduce a new one, and I only made it into the seventh world before I got completely frustrated and had to set the game down for a time. I love a challenge, but when tough begins to feel more like unfair, it becomes a very thin line that is hard to discern. 

Game Rating : 7/10

Pick up the game HERE (PC) or HERE (Switch)

 

Game Played On : PC (Steam)
Also Available On : Nintendo Switch
Key provided by Chilled Mouse via Keymailer