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Professor Fizzwizzle - A fun and challenging puzzle game Pick of the Week
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[Score: 9 out of 10]
If your gaming preferences are on the 'casual' and 'puzzle solving' end of the spectrum, I think you'll really enjoy Professor Fizzwizzle (PF from here on out). PF is a classic two-dimensional side-view game. At first glance, it looks like your typical horizontally scrolling game, but that's not what it is at all. Rather, PF is a massive (230 levels) brain teaser. The game's objective is decidedly simple: get the Professor from his entry point to a specified departure point. To accomplish this task, you can move up, down, left, or right (but no jumping). Of course, nothing is ever simple, and there are typically any number of obstacles between the Professor and the exit -- everything from holes that he can fall into but not climb out of, objects such as crates and barrels, surfaces of sand, grass, and ice, each of which cause differing behavior for both the Professor and objects on those surfaces, and much, much more. Here's a look at one of the simpler early levels (click the image for the larger version):


On the pictured level, the objective is to get the Professor to the blue disc on the left side of the screen.

The game is far from simple, at least for someone of merely mortal brain power such as myself. Things start off easy enough, and you'll have a high degree of confidence at first. But as the levels progress, the complexity of the puzzles seems to increase nearly exponentially. Most levels require a series of tasks to be done in the proper order; get the order wrong, and you'll be pressing R (to restart the level) to try again. This can be a bit frustrating at times, but it's also what makes the game so appealing -- you really need to think your way through it. If you get really stuck, however, the games' menus include a Show Solution option.

There's no traditional scoring in PF -- you won't see Total Points anywhere, nor is there a countdown timer to encourage you to finish a level quickly. Instead, as you complete levels, you'll see a tracker that indicates what percentage of each category (Regular, Advanced, Kids, and Alphabet) you've completed. You'll also unlock sometimes-funny photographs (viewable in a gallery) as you complete levels. But that's it for rewards; PF is really all about just having fun and solving puzzles.

The game's graphics are cute and effective, the sound effects are nice, and the music isn't too annoying (though it's easily disabled, which is what I've chosen to do). About the only downside is that the game window is of fixed size, 800x600, so you can't scale it up for larger monitors. That's a minor quibble, though; PF is great fun, even without 3D graphics or vicious alien races to battle!
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Professor Fizzwizzle - A fun and challenging puzzle game
Authored by: Lame Name on Aug 03, '06 11:26:03AM

Re: 800 X 600 window

Selecting "Full Screen" within the Options menu pretty much fills our 1680 X 1050 20" screen.

You are right it is wonderful. You also get a build your own puzzle/level editor which adds another level of fun to the game.




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Professor Fizzwizzle - A fun and challenging puzzle game
Authored by: robg on Aug 03, '06 12:09:40PM

I should have worded that more clearly :). I was hoping for higher-resolution graphics, not just a larger gamespace with fuzzier graphics. While it looks reasonably good zoomed in, it's still a bit fuzzy, indicating that the objects are drawn for the 800x600 size.

But a minor quibble; it's a very addictive game :)

-rob.



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Professor Fizzwizzle - A fun and challenging puzzle game
Authored by: profolio on Aug 04, '06 04:46:27AM
Although I haven't tried it yet, the screenshots remind me a lot of a BBC game I got addicted to a while back called ''Re-Covered Roadies'' that is not as multi-leveled and wide screen but nonetheless a real hoot.
http://www.funflashgames.com/roadies.htm

---
Michel

''The future's uncertain and the end is always near'' Jim Morrisson

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