Lab 14 / 2

Smileez 1 is part of a 2-game series of puzzle platformers, both released within 4 days of each other. The object of the game is to guide a smiling block to a sad block by figuring out the room's puzzle, which can involve thinking "outside the box." Sound interesting? Eh. Breakdown time:

Graphics:
The graphics in Smileez are simple, black and white, with no frills what so ever, and no real problems. Most everything in the game is a black box with a white outline, and its all on a black background. Overall, nothing impressive, and nothing to be ashamed of.
*** 3/6

Sound:
There is no music in Smileez, which is a definate setback--this should definately be added to improve the game somewhat. The sound effects exist, but are limited, and often are quite obnoxious. And I believe that the dying sound is from the resource pack that comes with Game Maker...
** 2/6

Gameplay:
Well, the gameplay is, as its intended to be, basic puzzle-platforming. However, the puzzles in Smileez are not only unoriginal, they are for the most part not challenging. Many of the levels are extremely similar, if not almost identical, to levels in Lab 14, so anyone who has previously played that classic will find half of the levels not challenging at all. The rest of the puzzles that are not in Lab 14 seem to be either heavily Lab 14-based or simply not that clever. It is clear that time was spent on some of the puzzles, and there are a few that deserve full credit, but 12 of these levels is not enough, even if there is a sequel released 4 days later (why not just combine the games?).
*** 3/6

Story:
Ok, so there is at least an objective: Finish the game to turn the sad blocks in happy ones. A puzzle-platformer like this though doesn't really require a good story, so the weakness of it doesn't matter.
** 2/6

Interface:
he controls are solid and there are no glitches as far as I can tell. The title screen is simple, but exists and serves its purpose. The only real problem is that there are no credits, or at least they do not work when you press "C" on the title screen like it says. Overall though, a very solid interface.
**** 4/6

Overall:
In conclusion, this game needs to go back to the drawing board. It is a good idea without many good ideas, if that makes any sense. I advise that David Chen take these two games and really rethink many of the levels, and try to come up with more original gameplay elements. For arcade games, shooters, and other game genres, lack of originality can often still make a solid game, but with puzzle-platformers its so easy to repeat puzzles and once they've been seen, they are not much fun to repeat. Really, there is a lot of promise and I advise you to continue building one big Smileez game, but for now its time to go back to the drawing board and get some fresh ideas.
*** 3/6


If you liked this game, try:
-Lab 14
-Karoshi
-Karoshi 2.0