Developer: MumboJumbo
Category: Match 'Em Up
Released: July 2009
Usual Price: £5.99
Hours Played: 3
Controller Compatible: Yes
Rating: 1 Star
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Although not classed as an indie game, Chainz 2: Relinked bounces on to the scene in the form of a casual match 'em up game. We're not talking your normal tiles here though but links in a chain which must number three or more before they free themselves in a blaze of glory.
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Menus, Progress & Stats
Chainz 2: Relinked performs very well in the menus and navigation department. You get your four modes neatly set out in symmetrical order at the start with an appropriate symbol pictured behind each. Clicking on one will take you to its respective level-select screen which is also very well ordered and set out. For Classic, Arcade and Strategy mode you can see the squares mapped out for you with each one greyed out that you haven't completed yet. Puzzle mode has smaller squares on its level-select screen for the simple reason that there are more to do. It also has two pages worth of puzzles. Clicking around these menus is quick and solid, and it's all very responsive and stable.
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| Level-Selection Screen in Arcade Mode |
It's a shame that Chainz 2: Relinked falls below standard because its system for recording progress is good and user-friendly. When clicking on any mode, you are taken to a path featuring squares that are linked by chains. Classic, Arcade and Strategy all look like the one in the opposite panel. Each of the 10 stages has 5 levels within it and as you complete these the square changes from a yellow question mark to a blue square with a yellow number. Gameplay is continuous so you have to exit the game you're in, in order to see that your progress has been recorded. In Puzzle mode there are two screens of 25 squares meaning there are 50 puzzles to solve in total. Finally, scores are recorded on a high-score chart which you can access from the start-screen.
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| Arcade Mode |
Gameplay
The basic principle is to connect three or more rings of the same colour together by rotating single links 90 degrees by clicking on them. A successful connection causes a sparkling animation, an addition to the score, the links to slide downwards and for the empty spaces to get filled with more rings. That is the core gameplay mechanic of Classic, Arcade and Strategy mode. The exceptions are that in Classic mode there is no time-pressure, in Arcade there is time-pressure while in Strategy links are added to a half filled grid every time you make a rotation. Puzzle mode, on the other hand, has you rotating rings and connecting chains but does not add extra links and comes with the objective that you must clear the entire grid. So far, so dull.
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| Strategy Mode |
Apart from a few power-ups and the option to scramble the grid, there isn't really much else going on in this game but the major game-breaker for me is that it's just so damn difficult! Arcade mode had me struggling to finish within the time right there at Level 2; Strategy mode had me stumped at the very first try, and I couldn't even get beyond the third puzzle (out of 50) in Puzzle mode!! Add to this the fact that Classic mode is so easy that a moron could do it and you have an unbalanced crock of rubbish. I thought that a game of this nature would ease the player in gently and have the player able to plough through the early levels like a madman but with such a ridiculously difficult opening few stages to three modes I can only conclude that Chainz 2: Relinked is a ridiculously out-of-touch game. As I say, the only alternative is to play Classic mode, with no punishment, but this is more suited to a 4 year-old.
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| Puzzle Mode |
Sound & Graphics
I would like to say that the sound and graphics redeem the game somewhat but they don't. The soundtrack at the menu screens has a hurried, slapstick quality that reminds me of the zany "Carry On" films from the 1960s and also reminds me of the far superior Unwell Mel match up game. This is fine but when playing the Arcade mode, this hurried music just rushes you more and proves to be just a tad too forceful. Maybe it's due to the absurd difficulty but the real effect is that it actually seems aggressive and brings on the onset of stress. A feeling of panic is not what I want in most games, especially in the early levels. The graphics, meanwhile, are fairly standard for a match 'em up game with the resolution also being standard issue for a match 'em up game - set quite low and fixed.
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Conclusion
Obviously, I was none too impressed with this title overall. Chainz 2: Relinked gives the player no chance to settle into the game at all and when you struggle to make a match after just the second move at the very start of a new first-stage Strategy game, then you know something is not quite right. There are, indeed, a lot more absorbing match 'em up games out there that are done so much better. You would do well to give this one a very wide berth.
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