See / Saw might make you think it is going to be about some sort of childish, fun little physics puzzle game.
Well, at least half of it is true.
You are an unnamed stick figure, assured that your sacrifices are in the name of “er… science?” Each level is a confined box with three circles that you need to gather to complete the level.
To move your character around, you tilt the puzzle itself either left or right, allowing you to move in that direction and build up momentum, exactly the same as a Seesaw in a playground.
The building of momentum is key in this game, as many of the objectives are impossible to reach using just normal movement. You need to learn how to catapult yourself over and around obstacles using angular momentum, as well as dodging obstacles.
Oh, that’s right – there are also spikes and rotating blades.
Now, you might assume as a sane, logical person that the obstacles are things you should avoid at all costs; after all, who wants to be impaled in the name of science?
Well, See / Saw cares not for your desires – you literally have to die in horrible ways.[sc name=”quote” text=”Well, See / Saw cares not for your desires – you literally have to die in horrible ways.”]
Thanks to the inclusion of an easy way to restart the level by simply swiping downwards on the screen, you need to find the precise path to fling your useless body towards the points at any cost, even if it requires you to get meshed in-between the spokes of a rotating blade.
See / Saw is a physics game taking obvious inspiration from Portal; dubiously scientific experiments conducted at your expense, all with a snarky commentator observing your experiences and giving often unhelpful advice? What’s not to love?
The use of puzzle manipulation, coupled with the actual imperative to kill yourself to achieve the objectives, make for a really interesting, engaging game.
You will find yourself extremely annoyed to have missed that last circle buried beneath a dozen blades, but it’s so easy to redo the level that it isn’t a problem. After all, each level can last 5-10 seconds, making it very easy to do over and over and over again until you get it just right.
There are even bonus points you can get for doing it in record time.
While there is some significant underlying frustration when bouncing tiles and spikes are in play (you will quickly learn how unfun it is to do the same jump 100 times trying to not impale yourself just before the last circle), See / Saw is a fun and challenging game.
You will keep working through the puzzles, level after level, simply because you enjoy figuring them out.[sc name=”quote” text=”You will keep working through the puzzles, level after level, simply because you enjoy figuring them out.”]
That, and the satisfaction of impaling yourself on spikes.
[review pros=”Great puzzle experience, replete with challenge and adversity. The use of actual death of your character to solve puzzles makes it a lot more fun.” cons=”Having to constantly do certain puzzles again and again 500 times can get a bit annoying.” score=9.5]
[appbox appstore id1200202714]
