Splitter - A guide by Mario

SPLITTER
This game has been lingering on Kongregate for some time (since October, as a matter of fact) but only now has it finally been given the badges it seems to deserve. As the title suggests, the game involves splitting. You guide an odd little smiley face into its brown goal by splitting objects with a knife. That smiley face is quite an endearing little chap, despite his slightly mental grin, as his eyes follow your knife around the stage. Anyway, let’s get to the meat of the gameplay. As with most puzzle games, the concept is very simple-but, also as with most puzzle games, new layers are added on top to make it into a challenge. Your knife can only split wood, and there are brick walls and metal walls to face, not to mention ropes attached to swinging spheres which can knock your smiley face into next week. The first level introduces you simply and easily-you cut a square in half, making a ramp for your odd hero to slide down to get to the goal, collecting a star on the way. Oh, did I mention the stars? Damn, no I didn’t. You see, on your way to the goal, once again, a puzzle cliché, there’s some bonuses to be found that you don’t need to collect and merely give you extra points. The gameplay is similar physics based stuff to what we’ve seen before in flash games, but at least it’s a nice concept with a smart layout and a decent hook to it. You’ve got all the good old clichés in flash puzzle games-a time limit reducing your score every second, extra points to be garnered from taking harder paths, and a great difficulty ramp. As the levels progress you’re using seesaw mechanics, desperately attempting to get timing right, and more good old physics fun. This is nothing groundbreaking, simply a decent addition to flash’s large library of puzzle games. Admittedly it is one of the better ones, and I would recommend it for its addictive side, its nice difficulty, and simply the nice feel of the game. Mario, out.