Previous Next

Forget the Blob, commit memories of school semolina to the back of your mind and shove all thoughts about other formless ameoba-like horrors in a small tray with a sturdy lid. The flooz is here, and it's seeping!

You are the unfortunate check-shirted handyman with the responsibility of constructing an unbroken pipeline to channel the ghastly gunk to safety. The game commences with the screen divided into a grid with a piece of pipe already in place - this is where the flooz starts. Additional segments of piping are dropped by a dispenser at the side of the screen. You have thirty seconds before the flooz starts to cruise, so get your construction underway without delay. Pipe segments appear in the dispenser at random, so it's important to plan several moves ahead to avoid getting yourself stuck.

Unwanted pieces can be "bombed" to make way for new sections, but this costs points. Extra point bonuses are obtained for five or more functions in the network, but these require considerable forethought if you're to get it right. To complete a level, you must successfully channel the flooz through a certain number of pipe sections (shown at the top of the screen). Any further sections simply boost your score.

As you progress through the levels, various hazards are thrown at you. These include sections of pipe already in place which cannot be bombed and blocks on which you can't place your pieces. Not all of these features are hindrances though, e.g. a reservoir section slows the progress of the flooz. A level ends when the flooz reaches the end of the pipe and your score is totalled up. Points are deducted for sections of unused pipe, so it's quite possible to complete a level and end up with less points than you started with!

And there you have it - the unlikely basis for one of the most addictive games of recent times. Graphics are extremely basic yet entirely functional - it just doesn't matter when the playability is of this standard. The darn thing's so easy to play it's almost impossible to get frustrated, but then it's so challenging it keeps you up 'til the early hours. Bonus screens and a password every hour levels tops it off perfectly.

If all this wasn't enough, I haven't even mentioned the two-player mode yet! Here each player is given their own personal dispenser (cor!) and real co-operation is required to do well. If you're really cunning you can replace your opponent's piees when he's not looking to get a higher score! You must be really devious though, otherwise you just end up bombing each other's pieces willy-nilly and games become very short.

I can't begin to relate how or why Pipemania is so appealing, it just is. Fab with one or two players. The only advice a humber reviewer can offer is go and hunt down a copy as soon as possible! 92%

What an odd job title a plumber has, I mean, he has no involvement with cylindrical (usually dark red) fruits with a hard seed at all. Slopping greend slush around in a pipe may not convince you of its hookability, but believe me, Miles, and everyone else in the office, addictiveness is its main quality.

The two-player mode is perfectly executed, each participant blowing the other's pipes away to add a tune of their own and get all the points.

It's unique, untouchable enjoyment... what more can I say? (Chris looks longfully into the heavens) Well, for addle-brained befuddlers, no single-pipe game harnesses as much mind mesmerizing minutes of merriment. As puzzlers go, arrive and disperse is recommendable to the highest degree. 89%

Presentation 60%
No frills but good password system.

Graphics 63%
Let the game do the talking.

Sound 70%
Little tunelet starts each level, odd gloop noises.

Hookability 95%
Holds your attention for hours at a time.

Lastability 90%
You'll look forward to rainy nights indoors.

Overall 91%