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Steampunk flavoured puzzle action

A good puzzle game is both innovative and challenging. By that criteria alone Cogs is a marvel. Blending a traditional slider puzzle and something out of a William Gibson novel, Cogs is in a league of it’s own both in terms of creativity and polish.

The basic premise of the game is to solve various 3D clockwork puzzles by setting gears and pipes in place to make the mechanics of the device work. The challenge lays in the introduction of the sliding mechanic that requires players to carefully plan out their moves, as only one piece can be shifted at a time and a single out of place gear could require a lot of maneuvering to align.

One of the earlier puzzles

Across the game’s 50 levels the difficulty ramps up significantly with the latter levels requiring some deep thought or just blind luck in order to solve. However, despite the herculean task solving some of the later puzzles present the game actually has a rather gradual learning curve. One of the nicest things about Cogs was that while not holding your hand throughout the game it gradually introduces the increasing challenges (pipe splitters, changing gear sizes, etc) in a way that’s neither daunting or boring.

One of the things that sets Cogs apart from most puzzle games is it’s use of graphics hardware. Everything from the puzzles themselves to the menu screens are fully rendered in 3D with a Victorian era aesthetic that’s reminiscent of H.G. Well’s Time Machine. This visual style permeates every aspect of the game, down to the noticeable lack of static-graphic displays and options, making every aspect of the game feel like it’s part of one complex machine. Brendan Mauro, artistic lead on Cogs, pulled inspiration from a variety of traditional steampunk sources and tightened it all in to a very concise visual package that lends itself well to the game, not only by setting the mood but also in aiding comprehension of how the puzzles work.

The downside to these impressive visuals of course is that it’s unable to run on many lower-spec machines. Most business laptops and netbooks lack the 64MB of dedicated video memory required to play the game, so despite how well suited Cogs is for mobile gaming in it’s current state it’s a desktop only venture for most.

Fit things in place to make it fly.

Also, this is not a very casual puzzle game. The later puzzles ramp up in difficulty rather severely with the last 10 or so seemingly impossible to solve for someone with a mere mortal brain. This is great news for any card-holding members of Mensa, but a serious deterrent for those anal retentive about completing their games and gun-shy of some serious thinking. Playing Cogs is a greater mental workout than any brain training game out there, and that takes it a step away from being a quick pick-up and play.

Cogs is a very impressive game; it’s unique, it’s creative, and it’s got a great visual theme. The game is a step up from your average casual distraction in both difficulty and in terms of visual punch. You will never feel more clever than when you complete one of the more demonically complex contraptions, but Cogs is not for the feint of mind. Much of the game requires an almost stressful level of concentration, but will be a welcome challenge to those with more than enough grey matter to topple a majority of the puzzle game scene.

The game is currently available on Steam for $9.99 (there’s also a free demo) and to help celebrate the launch of Cogs, Rob Jagnow, lead programmer and founder of Lazy 8 Studios has provided us with 3 Steam download codes for his game to be redeemed on Steam. We’re not just going to let you have the codes though, that would be far too simple.

In the comments section post your favourite brain teaser, it can be one you’ve made up yourself or a favourite from when you were a kid. One entry per person, the winners will be selected at random and we’ll post an update listing their names and some of the best brain teasers late next week. Remember, we’ve got 3 codes to give away so check back and see if you’ve won!