The deeper you go, the greater the pressure becomes. Welcome to the world of Wetrix, the spectacular cellular water puzzle that keeps you immersed for hours at a time. Amazing one or two player 3D gameplay throws multiple levels after multiple game twists after multiple sfx as you compete to keep your game afloat.
~ from the back of the box
Coming from the United Kingdom, I've seen my fair share of rainfall in my time, but nothing could prepare me for Wetrix. This cute puzzle game has you raising walls on a plain of land to build lakes to catch rain water in. And the rain can be torrential!
Developed by Zed Two Game Design Studio for the PC (as well as ports to the DreamCast and Nintendo 64), the premise is pretty simple and quick to understand. Shapes drop down from the sky Tetris style onto a flat grid of land. Most of the will be red or green arrows that point up or down respectively. I'll call these blocks mountains and chasms. Mountains will raise the land on the spot they fall on. Chasms will shrink these mountains to ground level, erasing whatever is beneath it. Eventually, drops of water will begin to fall and if any of it cascades off the edge of the play area, the water meter on the right hand side of the screen will begin to fill up. Once full, it is game over! To stop that from happening, build contained enclosures using the mountain pieces and drop the water safely in there. The liquid has no place to go so it'll stay put forming a lake.
 |
 |
Ice Cubes will solidify the water so it won't fall off the edges, but it will make building and evaporating more difficult (left).
Build too many mountains and an Earthquake will blight the land. Pretty much a Game Over if you have a large body of water (right).
Build too many mountains and an Earthquake will blight the land. Pretty much a Game Over if you have a large body of water (right).
This alone is a neat concept, but add in some other tricks and treats and you've got some chaotic action in front of you. Bombs will explode a 1x1 hole in the ground, draining any water above it. You can heal it with a mountain piece or enlarge it with a chasm, but if another bomb falls into a hole, an explosion deals massive damage to random spots in the field. Depending on how much water you're holding, and the luck of the future pieces, this can spell catastrophe. You can get rid of water in a much safer way. Fizzing fire balls will evaporate the entire pool of H2O it lands in, earning you a load of size-dependent points in the process. If an ice cube freezes the lake, though, it will only thaw it so two of them are required to get rid of it completely.
Beyond the falling pieces, the environment around you will also do it's best to put you off. Other than the droplet block, the weather itself can wet. A general downpour can flood the plains as you madly rush about fixing up holes. On the flipside, a rainbow can bring nice weather and some juicy extra points with it. The worst is an earthquake, turning your finely kept landscape into a messy disaster zone.
It's an addictive gameplay loop that may take a few games of trial and error before you get a good strategy going. My tactic is to build a smallish couple of pools in the top corner before lining the edges with whatever comes down leaving one corner free for bombs. If you don't get a good landscape at the start, it's pretty much a game over before you've even realised it. Upkeep a grand canyon, and it could set you up for a good few levels. Just like Tetris, Puyo Puyo and other falling block puzzlers, there will likely come a point where it's too fast and hectic to keep up with. Add the isometric 3D play field and it takes an incredibly trained mind to place high on the leader board.
 |
 |
Rainbows will signal nice weather and more importantly, double points (left).
Two-player split-screen mode is a nice options if you can find someone to play with (right).
Two-player split-screen mode is a nice options if you can find someone to play with (right).
Beyond the standard "Classic" mode, there are a number of others, including "Puzzle" and "Split-Screen" modes. I naturally gravitated to Puzzle mode thinking they'd require a little more logic than quick reflexes, but it essentially a difficult handicap or challenge mode. The water metre may be half full, bomb holes may already blight or you have a tight timeframe to reach a specific score. I think I'll stick to practice mode, which colour codes danger areas so you can understand the mechanics better.
Wetrix is one unique game. In fact, other than its console-exclusive sequel, I cannot think of another puzzler quite like it. It takes a little more time to get into than the like of Tetris - that added dimension can play with your brain somewhat - but once you do, it's tough to put down. Recommended.
To download the game, follow the link below. This is a custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses DxWind to run on modern systems. French language Manual included. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 10.
File Size: 125 Mb. Install Size: 137 Mb. Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ
Download
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Wetrix is © Zed Two Limited & Infogrames
Review, Cover Design and Installer created by me
Like this? Try These...
Wetrix! Truly one of the most original games I've ever played. This was a very interesting product of that mad frontier-esque era where all the 2D genre standards were undergoing the transition to 3D, and sometimes the results were really out there. Alongside Tetrisphere and 3D Lemmings this game flew the flag for that strange and oft-contested quasi-genre, the action-arcade-puzzler.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed it but my brain doesn't work that well (read: at all) spatially so I never did especially well! I think it proved a bit of a cul-de-sac during the console era, but fluid-based puzzle games did receive more attention after the indie boom. The Hydroventure (/Fluidity) games aren't a spiritual successor in any real sense, but are worth checking out as another example of developers trying to translate water manipulation into game mechanics.
I second Fluidity. Played the heck out it on the Wii.
DeleteThere is a learning curve to Wetrix, perhaps due to this iteration having a single viewpoint. Its console ports and sequel - from what I can tell - use a fully 3D environment and user controlled camera. That may help with spacial awareness.