Boredworkers.com

Game of the week is… Gearz by Mumbo Jumbo and published by GameHouse. I don’t know why but for the second week in a row, I’ve cut it close to the deadline. Is this a sign that I’m losing steam? Maybe. Playing too many games never killed anyone but nearly 19 weeks of doing this, I think I’m getting to a point where the games start to look the same and doesn’t quite draw my interest.

It is because of this reason that I was pleasantly surprised to find this game inside GameHouse’s archives. It was rated as 1 star, which on any other occasion, I might have passed it over without a second glance. However, I was looking for something different. Or at least something that wasn’t the usual match-this-colour type of game. Gearz is a refreshing change and after playing it for a bit, rather addictive. Whatever it was, it managed to tweak my interest enough that I’m going to feature it inspite of its one star rating from GameHouse.

Unlike most games that I’ve reviewed here in the past, Gearz has only one game mode. There are however three difficulty levels to make things interesting. I’ve never been a fan of difficulty settings and usually just wind up playing normal. But that’s just me. Anyway, the game, concept, and objectives are simple. Each level consists of one (or more) spinning gear(z) as the starting point. The aim is to link a combination of gearz and work your way through to the golden gear at the finish line. In the process of doing so, you’ll have to wend your way through scrolling maze like game field. The scrolling game field consists of blocks on which you can drop your gears. However, each gear has to be connected to one that is already on the field, and the direction in which the gears spin will also influence whether or not you’ll be able to link the gears together. You lose a life if all the spinning gears (e.g. gearz that you’ve placed) scrolls off the game screen.

There are three gear sizes; namely, small, medium, and large. Each gear size has its own functions and will will react differently when combined with another gear. The key to winning the game is to understand what each combination does. For example, the small gears act as connectors between the medium and large ones and cannot be linked to each other. On the other hand, the large gears cannot be linked directly to the medium gears. There are exactly four different combinations and you’ll just have to discover the nuances for yourself. Inspite of the simple concept, the combinations that arise as a result is nearly limitless. Couple that together with an ever-changing gamefield, and you have a fast paced action game that will test your wits and reflexes.

There are several powerup gears available to help you along in the game. When placed on the playing field, the powerups will take effect. Powerups include the Pause power up which stops the game field from scrolling and the Hourglass power up which causes the game field to scroll in slow motion. If you find yourself out of moves because of a wrongly placed gear, you can use bombs to blow up the offending gears. You have 10 bombs per level and you can use it on gears on both the playing field and those that are in your selection box.

Points don’t really matter but its always nice to achieve a high score. Placing and linking gears of the same colour, one after the other, will give you a chaining combo bonus. Additionally, there are bonus gears littered throughout the level. If you link these up with your main chain of gears, it will gain you a significant point bonus. That aside, there are also multiplier gears which basically gives you a multiplier bonus to the corresponding colour chain.

Moving right along, refer to Boredworkers.com’s GotW for the recommended download files and follow the instructions below:

• Download both recommended downloads.
• Install GameHouse Gearz.
• Locate [crack.zip] within the crack archive.
• Uncompress it to the installation folder, replacing the file [gearzres.dll].
• Spin the cogs and have some fun.

So do you think you have what it takes to spin them gearz? Only one way to find out.

Disclaimer:
The author does not condone piracy. If you find that you enjoy the game after playing it for a bit, do purchase the license. Good work should be given its due.