At first glance, Juicy Beetle Games and Lindsay Goodridge’s Slidey Feet (out now, free) may look like your average kid-friendly puzzler. But don’t be fooled! Behind its cutesy, easy-going exterior there lurks a mind-bendingly tricky beast of a game that will challenge, engage and delight even the most experienced puzzle fans.
Each level of Slidey Feet starts with a penguin stuck within an icy maze, and your goal is to guide him safely to the exit. It sounds easy, but there are a couple of catches: 1) the exit won’t open until you’ve stepped on and cracked every last block of ice, and 2) the penguin can’t step on the same block twice or else he’ll plunge to his doom. What this means is that instead of simply taking the most direct path out of the maze, you’ve got to carefully plot a route to the exit that allows you to crack all the blocks without any backtracking. As if that wasn’t already tough enough, levels are also played against a tight time limit, which adds another layer of challenge and excitement to the proceedings.
The further you play into Slidey Feet, the more intricate and complex the level designs become. The game also does a good job of keeping you on your toes by continually introducing new puzzle elements, such as disappearing blocks, buttons that need to be triggered to clear obstacles, and more. Some particularly formidable levels require a pretty heavy amount of trial and error and memorization to beat (perhaps a little too much), but no matter how frustrating the game gets, it’s still a lot of fun.
Slidey Feet’s gameplay is compelling and involving enough to stand on its own two feet, and yet the game still goes the extra mile by providing extras like achievements and leaderboards. There’s also an in-game store where you can use the golden fish you earn while playing to purchase stuff like extra lives, power-ups, and a host of adorable playable characters. Overall, this is a very full-featured package, especially since it’s a free download. Plus, Lindsay Goodridge seems committed to regularly updating the game to include new content and improvements, so Slidey Feet is only going to get even bigger and better with time.
Verdict
Don’t let the cute aesthetics fool you: Slidey Feet is a whole lot more deep, challenging and complex than it looks. If you’re into puzzlers, you’ve simply got to check this unbelievably cool game out for yourself!
