‘Ello Time Wasters!
So I’ve been playing a lot of different games these past few weeks, and most of them have been the action adventure, racing, shooting types. But this week I took a break from all that and decided to take on a challenge that would test my head rather than my skills at using a mouse or tilting a phone. The game that interested me enough into giving it a try is called The Rise, and with an opening statement of ‘games for smart people’, I was sure I had found what I was looking for.
The Rise is a classic escape game; meaning that you have to solve the puzzles in order to escape from the room you’re trapped in. I was glad to see that this game was a lot more straight forward in its tactics of getting out than a lot of other escape-the-room games tend to be. Having the puzzle in front of me (or at least a piece of it) made the game a lot more enjoyable than having no idea at all what I was supposed to be doing. It also meant that I kept playing it rather than giving up because I wasn’t actually having any fun.
On to the puzzles of The Rise, since that’s what this game is all about. Several of the puzzles were things you’ve seen before, but that didn’t necessarily make them easier to solve. On a few occasions there were levels that I just breezed through without much thought, but the number wasn’t too bad since there were 30 levels to get through and each one did something different. One thing I found on several of the puzzles that I really liked was that they played on misdirection; making you think that one thing was the answer but really it’s something else entirely. I’ll always appreciate a game that turns common thought against you and makes you think outside the box.
So having good puzzles is a plus for The Rise, but what of the game’s aesthetics? Well the graphics of The Rise aren’t anything over the top, but they’re well done, easily read, and tell you everything you need to know. And since this is a puzzle game, that’s the most important thing to get right. As for music, there isn’t any; only the necessary sound effects like clicks and beeps to give you the feedback you need for completing the puzzle. I found myself not missing the music at all though, because there was nothing to distract me from finishing the puzzle and moving on, or give me a headache when a puzzle would take me a little longer to do. So I’ll give The Rise a thumbs-up on that decision; no music was a good choice.
As a wrap up, The Rise was a fun game that got me thinking and let me kill my time in a good way that I didn’t regret. It kept me entertained, involved, and I didn’t realize how much time had passed before I had beaten it and looked up again; so props for that. The only thing I could have asked for was for harder puzzles, but maybe that’s just me. So if anyone else wants a small, simple way to test your wit, have fun with this one.
The Rise earns itself 4 GiN Gems out of 5!