Reviewed by Eva Cekanska
In the interest of honesty and generally speaking, I will admit that when I think of playing any kind of game, the puzzle genre rarely sparks my interest. I like to say that this is due to the slow action, but once again, honesty dictates that I should probably admit to being simply too dim-witted to work my way through something seemingly simple and yet requiring intense intellectual commitment. When I first heard of Eets I was excited to try it only because it was described to us as “lemmings on crack”. I don’t condone the use of any illegal substances, but this I had to see.
So what is Eets all about? Well, basically, your goal is to get Eets to grab a puzzle piece, and this is pretty straightforward at first. Eets has a variety of moods, and depending on the one he is in, he will either jump off cliffs, launch off cliffs or simply walk back and forth too afraid to even ponder such daring feats. The goal is to stimulate little Eets into grabbing the puzzle piece that is his end, and the means of getting this is by inducing the little guy into a variety of different actions.
Usually the easiest way to play with the mind of Eets is to feed him something. At the very onset of the game, mallows of the marsh variety are the easiest and most direct way to get Eets to his destination. His three basic moods are happy, scared and angry. Consequently, the three different kinds of marshmallow will make Eets either happy, scared or angry. His mood determines his action and this in itself takes literally seconds to master. However, the game progresses to allow for a fair deal of complex interaction with Eets’ environment.
For example, there are Choco Clouds, which wear hats that shoot out chocolate chips. The clouds themselves don’t seem to be very happy, and I don’t know why this is, because with a hat of such awesome power I would be singing the graces of the Mayan gods. Alas, at least controlling the cloud certainly brightened up some of my days. You see, while it is possible to use this could to simply feed some chips to little Eets, another option is to shoot him until he becomes very angry… or shoot anything else deemed worthy.
Sometimes your target may be a pig, which will then shoot something fiercely explosive out of its bottom. Or better yet, one can get a whale to swallow the chip and shoot it into the air or onto another platform where Eets is wandering frightened. A few chocolate chips will cure what ails him! The possibilities are of course quite endless or this would not make for a great puzzle game.
Speaking of which, let’s get on to the puzzles. The game starts out extremely easy, but becomes more complex while introducing the player to all the different choices in actions from then on. This is a safe bet as far as making sure gameplay is understood and deliberated, making for a fun experience, but it can actually be a little bit daunting. I felt as if I was learning what to do with the different pieces (or was not fully aware how they worked) throughout the game. The puzzles themselves became more difficult but so did the environment, which isn’t always a great combination. This is not unmanageable, and the fact that the game works by presenting the player with a frozen scenario and allowing for item placement before springing into action aids this process considerably. Only those who like to understand all of the rules before playing would, in my opinion, have a tough time getting past the steep learning curve.
I already admitted to not being a giant fan of puzzles, so I will have to say t
hat when I spent hours playing Eets I was rather surprised. I installed the game on my laptop, which is not exactly the gaming machine a PC fan would dream of, so I was thankful to have a game I could occupy myself with during those moments of frustration we all experience in a day. That is perhaps the one aspect of puzzle games I was not counting on; they are therapeutic.
Eets is the perfect way to get your mind off of mundane tasks and relax a little bit, get those creative juices going, and get back to whatever it is you call work. Of course, I don’t mean to imply that this game can’t be enjoyed at any point during the day, but I personally found it to be a lifesaver at odd points. It doesn’t hurt that it can be run virtually by any machine, and is downloadable while taking up a very neat little amount of memory.
While it does take a while to master all of the different choices in actions, and reactions can be a hefty amount of work, Eets is a fun and creative game. Definitely boasting a bold sense of humor and a delightfully wacky whimsy, this puzzle title kept me entertained at moments when I needed it most. For that, and for introducing me to the now large and hopeful universe of puzzle games, I will gladly put down my Sudoku and make a grab for the puzzle piece by subjecting Eets to a variety of tortures.
Special thanks to Joe Lieberman and Klei Entertainment for providing the full version of this title.