Magnetized Review
PROS
- Interesting range of powers to master
- Great retro music and look
- Addictive and exacting puzzles
CONS
- A touch short
- Perfecting mazes during the end game challenges can feel more like luck than skill
VERDICT
Much like the polarised items from which it takes its name, Magnetized utilises fascinating mechanics that are easy to grasp, but hard to pull away from.
- Full Review
- App Store Info
During your first few minutes with Magnetized, you could be forgiven for thinking that it is going to be a basic puzzler with a single mechanic. Instead, the developer Rocky Hong slowly introduces three different spins on the maze-navigating formula which layer to produce something both addictive and dynamic.
As with all time-gobbling puzzlers, the core of Magnetized is simple. You must guide a small block through a colourful maze, ideally picking up three collectibles en route.
The block moves at a constant speed through each stage. The only way of interacting with it is to trigger magnetic nodes dotted around the mazes by touching the screen. There can be several of these magnets in each maze, but only the one nearest your block will activate when triggered.
As there are three different types of nodes, each with different functions, you'll need to learn to identify them by colour. The blue – sorry, cyan - node will send the block into an orbit around it when active. The pink node will suck the block directly towards it, while the yellow one will transport the block to a mirrored point in the maze.
Introduced one at a time, these abilities and colours stack until they reach a crescendo of old school difficulty and visual style. This ocular assault is perfectly accompanied by Magnetized's stunning chip-tune soundtrack.
The trick to success is timing. You'll only survive if you activate the right node at exactly the right moment. It's this wicked combination of active puzzle solving and precision that drove us to madness as our death count crept into the hundreds.
Though they can be completed in an afternoon, we reckon the taxing mazes of Magnetized will attract and satisfy puzzle fans - provided you're not repulsed by the kitch presentation and steep difficulty curve, that is.
Screenshots
$0.99
