Elefunk

August 1,2008 - It seems like puzzle games these days come in all sorts of forms, from your typical block-dropping Tetris clones to games that rely on the use of physics as a puzzle itself. Elefunk leans heavily on the latter side of the puzzle fence, with a mixture of elephants, bridge-building, and physics that makes for a rather simple game that may stump those without a sharp mind. Is it worth it to build bridges for elephants or should you spend your money elsewhere?

The easiest description of how Elefunk works is to liken it to Lemmings with bridges. You’re not directing the elephants to build the bridges themselves, but it’s really you the gamer that’s given that seemingly simple task. Technically, you’re not really building the bridges, but placing girders to give the already laid out bridges the support the elephants require to cross them. So you must pay attention to what pieces you have available to you and figure out where you need to lay them down so the bridge doesn’t fall apart as the elephant walks across. It’s a bit difficult to grasp at first, but as you learn where certain pieces work best and as long as you can learn from the many mistakes you’ll make at first, you’ll be able to tackle later levels as best as you can.

Elefunk’s controls are on the simple side. L1/R1 cycle through the girder pieces you have available to you while the L2/R2 buttons rotate those pieces. The X button places the piece you’ve selected while triangle deletes pieces you’ve already placed down and the circle button lets you change the speed at which the elephant walking across the bridge once you press the start button to get them moving. Finally, you can use the right analog stick to zoom in and out on the level so you can get the best view of the level’s layout as possible. It is nice that if you fail, you have the option of reworking your set-up or starting over from scratch.

As for what modes Elefunk offers, you can expect to find three simple modes. The main mode is the puzzle mode, which gives you the task of playing through the 20 main levels that the game offers over four different environments. The good thing is that each new environment changes up the gameplay a bit to keep you on your feet. The time trial mode lets you focus on just going for the fastest time and most efficient build. The multiplayer mode is probably the coolest and at the same time it’s the most disappointing, as it is basically a new take on Jenga that replaces the blocks with girders, but features just five levels that can get a little stale after a while. It would’ve been great to have a level creator for this game to help extend the fun, but you’ll probably have to stick to shorter matches to keep the repetition of levels on the low side.

With Elefunk being such a simple game, it’s no surprise that it sticks with a simple graphical style. Levels mainly consist of a couple of cliffs and a bridge or two between them and a simple background. The elephants are nicely animated, with the females and male elephants’ strides being very different and successive falls cause them to be bandaged up and limp as they walk, which are some nice touches. The music is pretty much non-existent here, with it mostly appearing in the menus, but not in-game. You’ll hear plenty of elephants though and the sound of a crumbling bridge of failure will certainly haunt your dreams.

At the low price of $5, it’s hard to expect a ton of modes, features, and levels, but it’s also hard to call it a great game, as well. It’s certainly an enjoyable experience at a cheap price that you’ll be willing to play every once in a while when the more elaborate games in your collection are not what you’re looking to play. The demo will give you a sense of what the very beginning of the game is like, so definitely give that a shot and see if you could use a crash course in architecture without stepping into the classroom.

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