Art of Balance review

Pile up a variety of shapes on a little plinth so they balance on top of one another. If, when the last shape is placed, they stay up for the allotted time, you go onto the next stage. If they fall into the water below, it’s back to the drawing board. Every stage gives you a set amount of points – collect enough of these and you’ll unlock the next world and a set of trickier challenges to complete.

That’s the basics, but like all the best puzzlers the game throws up permutations on this simple theme. Blocks that smash if there are too many pieces on top or blocks that’ll break after a set time. Some challenges demand a certain height to be built, or a time limit to get the job done. Other challenges present you with base plinths that are floating, requiring careful counter-balancing, or are irregularly shaped.

Art of Balance is almost perfectly crafted and presented, particularly where its learning curve is concerned, introducing new rules gradually and managing to avoid being what could have been a frustrating experience. An excellent little game.

Apr 14, 2010