Future Publishing
7th February 1992Sarakon
Games which call the player stupid are unlikely to go down in history as great entertainers, yet Sarakon, despite making this fatal mistake is a perfectly decent rip-off of the Mah Jong tile-swapping business. Basically, if you imagine Snap played with some old oriental tablets and with some complicated "can't do that" rules, then you're pretty close to imagining what Sarakon is all about.
The aim of the game is to click on similar tablets which sit in a particular orientation, eventually ending up with no tablets left, or at least as few as possible before the time limit runs out. Once done, the player is rewarded with a breakdown of his score and a comment from the computer as to his Sarakon ability.
The problem with these puzzle games, however, is that they all look similar enough to make the player want to pick them up and have a go, yet they insist on containing enough rule subtleties to make doing just that impossible. The result? The Mah Jogn player will feel infuriated that he can't make his normal moves work.
The presentation is first class, apart from the cheesy sound effects and music which don't so much create the ambiance of the Far East as a grubby takeaway in Dulwich.
If comparatively sedate mouse-clicking is your bag, and your eyes can stand starting at the monitor for ages while you scratch your head, Sarakon is the game for you.