The Tiny Bang Story

The Tiny Bang Story is the kind of game you pick up because it's a daily deal for $2.50, it has a demo, and you have 30 minutes to kill before you need to get to work, so you decide you might as well give it a try, and then, 30 minutes later, you realize you still really want to complete the puzzle you were in the middle of, so you buy it. At least that's what I did.

This is not a fancy AAA game. Rather it is a simple, relaxing game. You explore several beautiful levels, interacting with items, people, and puzzles, to unlock new zones within your current level, and ultimately, new levels themselves.

There are four puzzle pieces, two different quest items (packages + the dial in the bookcase), and a security camera that reveals more items behind the desk.

Searching for items is what you'll probably spend most of your time in this game doing. You see, as you're exploring, you find that you can only move a frame or two in any direction, such as being limited to the base of a tower in the very first level because the ladder that goes higher is missing several rungs, or that someone indicates the are looking for an item such as a painting. This then activates a quest to uncover the item or items needed. In the event that you're looking for items like the aforementioned rungs to a ladder, you'll end up scouring through what part of the level you've unlocked, taking time to look at every little item around, because generally what you need is hidden as a detail on a structure, or is disguised against something else, such as the handle on the backside of a hatch. When you finally find all the pieces you need, you can complete the quest and access more of the level.

Finding items in this game is akin to searching through the pictures in the Highlights magazine at the doctor's office. You know, the one where the crayon is disguised as a tree trunk.

Other times, such as when you need to find that painting to progress, you actually need to complete a puzzle. There are a number of these throughout the game, and most are reminiscent of the kind of fun little puzzles you'd do as a kid, or that you could pick up for a few dollars inside a museum, such as trying to figure out how to fit a collection of Tetris like blocks nicely inside a rectangular area, or decoding secret messages from the inside of a cereal box. You'll find yourself building a locomotive, twisting two Venn diagram like circles in such a way as to split up three different colors, or piecing back together the tattered remnants of a family painting. These ultimately unlock some kind of reward that is required elsewhere, or is the final step before completing the level.

The left circle rotates 180 degrees, and the right 90. Probably one of the harder puzzles in the game.

To complete The Tiny Bang Story you'll have to search high and low for all of the items you'll need throughout the level. To further complicate things, there is far more than just what you see on screen at any one time, because you'll soon realize that many different objects can be interacted with, such as clicking on a closet to open it up, where you'll ultimately find that last valve you need to progress. Combine that with the fact that you'll generally have several quests that are active concurrently, and that many of them are interdependent, such that the very last light bulb and that one wrench you need are both locked away in the same trunk, and you'll soon realize that you cannot leave any stone unturned. So you must be thorough, and remember that what looks like a fancy lock on a chest or a unimportant security camera are actually keys to progressing.

As I stated, this is a pretty simple game. The attractive art and calming music make it the sort of thing you'll do for a little while when you probably should be doing something more productive. With about 20 puzzles and several levels to search through, you'll buy yourself about 3 hours worth of distraction. The Tiny Bang Story is ultimately an average game, one that feels about the same as playing a few rounds of solitaire or FreeCell instead of writing a paper or paying the bills, and with such a short play time, the $2.50 I paid seems about right - 5 out of 10.

So, the final breakdown:

Score: 5/10

Suggested Price: $2.50