Magic Color Infection is the sequel to tapir's other color infection games. So what's new? There are some new mechanics (I love the "pinball" levels), and it's become more difficult. Once you have done the first level of a row of puzzles and learned a new mechanic, the whole row opens up, so if you get stuck, try another level or even another row. Or go back to one of the earlier games, if you haven't already played them!
On Scale two, drop the stone ball and hit it with the green ball so the stone ball goes left and the green ball goes right. Then do the same with two plus balls. You should now have a ramp that safely guides the brown ball to the target. Scale 3 is even easier, because it doesn't even depend on timing if you know how to do it right.
While this upgrade game overall is nothing to write home about, there are some interesting ideas in the mechanics: the small alien "helper" that drops fuel pods for you, or the fact that you apparently collect more than 100% of fuel and use it, too, set this game apart from others of this genre.
Great game mechanics, but the UI drags it down. Worst offender: the report! It breaks me out of everything I am doing. Make it pop up on the left side like "Order" does on the right, or at least wait until I've closed the open dialog. It interrupts the flow awfully. HIt boxes in production menus should be square, don't make me pixel over the exact object; also, hit boxes for people are too small. Let me drop unoccupied people anyplace, and grab anyone anywhere. Some info could be displayed, not hidden. End a dialog when I click outside it. Give me a way to open a production menu directly from the map. Improve this, improve the flow, and it would be great.
I am in a house, and the shop person blocks me from getting out. Even waiting doesn't actually make him move, I don't have enough money to buy the teleport spell, and using space to wait meant buying something I didn't want when the shop window opened again. :-(
Yes. this is teh Michael Swain (et al.) game previously published on Newgrounds. It is strange that the author would publish only this game here, on an account that is two years old and has been largely inactive. This looks fishy to me.
You stop on the marked spaces in the right lane. Good luck backing your car up when you miss, though - it veers off course badly. A minimap would be very helpful here. And better car physics.
Lovely voice acting, fun puzzles, but some hints beyond the canned "this doesn't work" response to get on the track of those weirdological puzzles would've been nice.
Small niggle: please have a mute button on the main menu as well. The levels seem procedurally generated? Mechanics-wise, the level design is nice. If the screen was zoomed out a little more, I'd feel more in control: given that I haven't fully gotten the hang of how long to hold space to make a given jump (maybe my PC is too old and laggy?), I feel uncomfortable with the game. If the control felt more responsive, I could see myself getting into the flow over this, though.
Generally, a nice enough idea, but please lose the timer. It comes down to finding a solution, memorizing it, and redoing the level. That's annoying. (maybe count the number of moves?) Colors should indicate amperage in the circuit. And I don't get level 26, I'm pumping 400 A each into two anodes rated 400A each, and the dials aren't even moving. Also, a way to mute music and sfx separately would be great.
The way the avatar moves is weird, yet interesting and fun, what with the semi-automatic triple jump and the missing collision detection when approaching objects from below. Providing alternate arrow controls and zooming the level in while providing scrolling, plus some sound effects, would go a long way to make this look and feel more professional.
The translation needs more polish, and some objects are hard to identify. Also, sometimes you can't take objects that you know would fit (e.g. there is a mask that can only be taken the second time the word mask appears - bad translation?). The list can be in the play area, it obscures nothing.
I missed the "doubleclick to move all units" mechanic at first. When I discovered that, I went back and did all easy levels with 3 stars and replayed some others, and while I needed to try different startegies on some levels to beat them, I never skipped one. 45 and 75 are by far the hardest levels, though.
 "Magic Color Infection"){kind=icon}
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Thanks for this review!