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Review: Equilibria and ChainzReviewed By: Kirk Hiner Review Computer: 500MHz G4, 512MB RAM, ATI RADEON, Mac OS X v10.2.8 Review Date: October 23, 2003
Wait a minute...wait just a gol-durned minute. Isn't Mumbo Jumbo the company that brought us Myth III? Yeah, yeah it appears that they're the company that worked on the Mac version of Myth III. So, can someone tell me how it is that they've gone from Myth III to games such as Snowball Run, Super GameHouse Collection and now Equilibria and Chainz? Actually, never mind about that. Games are games, whether they be epic struggles against the power of darkness or epic struggles against multi-colored poker chips. In much the same way that I can have Wall of Voodoo next to Richard Wagner in my CD collection and be equally entertained by both, so can I be equally entertained by RTS and puzzle computer games.
You start out with four spaces already filled in the middle of the screen, then more balls start coming in. If the new ones connect three or more of the same color in any manner, click on any of the balls to make them disappear. The remaining balls collapse into their place, giving you more room to breathe. It's simple at first, of course, but as the game speeds up, more colors are added, and more balls are dropped at once, it can quickly get out of control. (The amount of balls dropped is dependent upon the amount of balls already in the row onto which they're falling, so bad begets worse). Thankfully, it can also quickly get back under control. Sometimes, when all seems lost, removing one set of balls will start a chain reaction that can cause almost everything to disappear. It's pretty sweet when that happens...until, thirty seconds later, you're right back where you were before. There are three ways to play Equilibria: Normal, Challenge and Survival. In Normal mode, as you eliminate the balls, a progress bar expands. Once this reaches its full height, the screen resets itself and the process begins anew, albeit with more difficulty. Challenge mode adds gold balls to the mix, and only by eliminating them can you progress. All other colors are just there to clear the way for the golden ones, although eliminating them does give you more time. In Survival mode, the screen never resets itself. You earn points just by staying alive; 1,000 per second. Equilibria manages to be both frantic and manageable. You're not penalized for clicking on non-matches, so it's worthwhile to just click everywhere if things are falling apart and you can't find a match. Also, because the balls shift when new ones slide in, you have to be quick and accurate with the mouse; matches can quickly shift out of place. On the other hand, waiting a moment can bring about larger matches for more points. Bonus marbles with special abilities also show up from time to time to bail you out of trouble. It's best to be patient with these as well, if possible, to use them to greater effect. The graphics and music are fine; just what I've come to expect from games such as this. Equilibria is simply a decent little diversion from whatever else you may have been doing. Yes, there's a free Java version at MumboJumbo's website, but it's not nearly as polished or fluid as the shareware version (you know how well Java applets run on the Mac). Now, unless you're really into puzzles, there may not be enough innovation in Equilibria to justify expanding your collection of this type of game. If you don't have any other puzzle games, however, Equilibria is a perfect place to start. Chainz, likewise, is a good place to start, but it's a pretty bad place to end up.
Again, you have multiple methods of play: Normal mode lets you work at your own place, while Time Attack forces you to fill up that progress bar within a certain amount of time. In either mode, this is one of the hardest games of this type I've ever played. I had to run through it over half a dozen times just to get past round one in normal mode! Why? Perhaps it's the colors. They're a bit garish, much like artwork in a grade school classroom or like Windows XP. Perhaps it's the music. It's uneven and choppy, which makes it really cool, actually, but also very distracting. Perhaps its the gameplay itself. It just seems, I don't know...kind of lazy. Uninspired. Chainz doesn't make this type of game any better, it just makes it different, and I'm not certain that different is enough anymore. To top it all off, Chainz had a nasty habit of not wanting to shut down on our test machine. When selecting Quit, the window would go white, then just sit there. Force Quit would take care of it (thanks for that, Apple), but I shouldn't have to bother. Again, there's a free Java version of Chainz available online. As with Equilibria, it lacks the flare of the shareware version; the graphics aren't as crisp, and...well, I miss the music in the Java version, so I guess the only thing more distracting than choppy music in a game is no music in a game. Too easy, I suppose, to hear the air conditioner and the computer fan here in the office if you've got no music playing. So, yeah, I can't quite put my finger on it, but Chainz didn't click with me. Given the choice of the two, I'd say that Equilibria will prove more entertaining. But hey, give them both a test run online and see which you prefer. In fact, you can give High Roller and Power Chips a test run while you're there, too, and see if you don't prefer either of them. Regardless, understand that the shareware versions (or retail, for the Power Chips and High Roller package from MacPlay) look, sound and play better than their online counterparts. Demos of the shareware versions are also available.
Equilibria and Chainz are ultimately just variations on a theme. Luckily, it's a fun theme, and it's one with room to grow a bit more before it's completely overplayed. These games will never dominate your evenings, hopefully, but they're likely to stay on your computer longer than some other games you may purchase. Games such as Myth III, for example.   [an error occurred while processing this directive]
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Cool Mac Gear• iPod 1G-2G • iPod 3G • iPod 4G • iPod Mini • PowerBook-iBook • Keyboard Skins • Garageband
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Equilibria is a variation on a theme of which we've seen quite a bit lately from companies such as GameHouse, MacPlay and Phelios...and even Mumbo Jumbo themselves. Balls/marbles/poker chips/blocks of various colors fall, and it's up to you to click on rows/columns of three or more to make them disappear before the balls/marbles/poker chips/blocks stack up to high. They're games of perception and reflexes, and they're games we've played a dozen times before. The good folks at Mumbo Jumbo realize this, thankfully, and understand they've got to throw something new into the mix in order to generate any interest. Sometimes that something new is nothing more than better graphics and different music. With Equilibria, Mumbo Jumbo also changed up the gameplay; instead of just having the balls/marbles/poker chips/blocks fall from the top down, they now come in from the top, right, bottom and left. Your job is to stop the stack from reaching the fault line in any direction. Ergo, equilibrium.
Here's another variation on the theme. This time, chain links of varying colors are scattered across the grid. By rotating the links, you can chain three or more of a single color together to make them disappear. All links above them slide down, and more links are added at the top. There are special links, such as the black ones you can't rotate, the rainbow ones that will chain with any color, and the ones accompanied by letters with which you can spell out "Chainz" for bonus points. Once you've created enough chains to fill up the progress bar, the screen resets and the game gets more difficult.