Puz: Cramgene [by Yamisoft]

Game: Cramgene
Release: August 2002
Genre: Puzzle
Developer: Yamisoft
System Requirements: Pentium 200, Windows 98/ME/2000/XP, 32 MB RAM, 16-bit video card
Price: US $19.95

When I first received Cramgene, I took a look at some screenshots, like I do with every game submitted.  Looking at the screenshots, I thought to myself, oh no, not another Pokemon rip-off.  Still looking at the screenshots, I liked the polished look of the graphics, so I downloaded the game and gave it a spin.  While I had scoffed at first, I quickly came to realize that Cramgene is one of the best independently created titles that I have ever played.  It is somewhat unfortunate that I did not receive it earlier, as I believe it would have been a strong candidate for the 2002 Independent Game of the Year.

Looking at a screenshot of Cramgene can be a bit puzzling.  It is obvious that the game is some sort of puzzler, but how in the world does it work?  There are little animals all over the place, and a couple of well-drawn animals in the middle of the screen. 

The basic concept is that you have your "pet" and you play it against either a computer or human opponents "pet."  The game consists of a best of 5 set of rounds.  The first person to feed their pet 3 separate times is the winner of the match.  While that in and of itself doesn't sound hard, there is a twist, the pets are picky eaters, and each match, they will only accept a single type of food.

If that wasn't hard enough, while looking over the available foods for the pet, you'll find that you do not possess any of the food that the pet wants.  What you therefore have to do, is take one of the available food aliens you have and break it down into its DNA parts.  Thankfully, the DNA shown for the food aliens is shown as a series of 2 image sets.  For example, if you are on the easy level, you will need to create an alien that matches 3 specific characteristics:  Color, Eyes and Body Shape.  Taking a food alien to source DNA table on the easy level will give you 6 small pictures broken into 3 sets of two.  So each 2 image set indicates one of the three characteristics that you need to match...but which is which?

The DNA table has enough space for three food aliens, so you can pull over food aliens with some matching and some contrasting characteristics until you determine what each set of images stands for.  For example, you can pull over two green food aliens that do not have the same body shape or eyes, and based on which column on the screen shows 2 sets of identical images, you will know which column identifies the gene for color.  Once you have identified the correct gene for color, you must then find a food alien that is the same color as the target food and place it on the table.  You then click on its gene under the column that you have determined is the color column, and its genes will be added to your "Target DNA" set.  Once you think you have added the genes for all 3 of the characteristics, you click on build...and voila!  An food alien with the characteristics you choose has been created.  If you chose the right characteristics, you win the round!

The game gets more difficult as you move to the normal or hard difficulty levels.  At each of these levels, more characteristics are added.  On the normal level, you have to create a food alien with 5 specific characteristics, and on the hard level, you will need to match 7 specific characteristics.  There are a couple items that will aid you in playing through.  Starting with the normal level, but also included on the hard level, bonuses become available.  The bonuses appear as an image in between the two players' pets.  To obtain the bonus, you need to line up three genes that have a matching image to the bonus image.  The bonuses truly change the pace of the game, as they can reset the other player's Target DNA machine, shield you from having the same thing done to you, mess up the DNA table, give you bonus points, and so on. 

To help you, more so with the more difficult levels, you also have column headers that you can move to the top of a column you have identified.  For example, once you know what gene set is responsible for color, you can put the column header for color at the top of the column.  (officially called trait reminders)  While they can be useful, they do take time to set at the top of a column, so it is important that you do so quickly.

As far as the pets available to you, you only receive one initially.  By beating other pets, you then have those pets made available to you.  When you are playing against the computer, each succeeding pet is more difficult to beat as they will more quickly create the correct food alien for their pet to eat.

In addition to playing the computer, the game also offers two player mode over a network.  Honestly, as fun as I was having playing through easy, two player mode was much more exciting.  Trying to play against a human component added challenge to the game, especially as I played on the higher difficulty levels, where more traits had to be determined to create the food aliens.  Unfortunately, the games difficulty is so hard, that the only time I really got to enjoy the increased challenge of the higher difficulty levels was when I was playing against a human opponent, but the game was so much fun I'll try not to fault it too much for the difficulty being set a tad too high.

Graphics: 9
Cramgene sports very colorful and clear graphics.  I believe they are 2D, but you don't find any pixilation or black around the images used.  All the characters, backgrounds, and borders are drawn very well.  You'll find yourself trying to beat all the levels you can to unlock the zany and strange characters...just so you can see how they look.

Sound: 10
The 3 soundtracks are absolutely wonderful.  They are all of extremely high quality and really jam.  I realize that they may be a bit too edgy for some people, but I found them to be a great backdrop for the game.  The effects and other sound bites are all top-notch.  Honestly I believe this is the first game I've ever given a 10 in the sound category.  Sound is something very difficult to describe, and really needs to be experienced to fully understood.  The sound and music in Cramgene are among the best you will find in a PC game of any type, and stand out as absolutely stellar for an independent game.

Game Play: 8
Cramgene is really easy to pick up.  There is a bit of complication to playing, but it is easily understandable, and the tutorial really gets you through the rough spots there.  Dragging pieces is simple to do.  The only knock I have on the game play is the fact that the game is far too difficult.  The colorful graphics might make you think this game can be played by a kid, but I think as an adult you'll be lucky to get past the third level on normal difficulty, and on hard, well let's just say you'll experience a new level of frustration.  One of the problems that game creators often have is figuring out a good difficulty level for their audience.  In this case, I believe that the game is far too difficult for its audience, which is a real shame, because this is really the only flaw in what is otherwise a near PERFECT game.

Options: 9
Plenty of options exist, and you'll be happily surprised to find the game running just as fast in windowed mode as in full screen mode.  The two-player network play is one of the easiest I've ever set-up and makes it fun and simple to play two-player games.  

Concept: 10
When you first look at this game, you'll probably think that you've seen this type of thing before, but let me quickly correct you and tell you that you likely have not seen anything like this before.  It is a puzzle game of course, but Cramgene is so well crafted to blend both a complexity of concept and simplicity of play that you will be amazed with the game presented to you.

Fun: 9
As a two player game, there are few better.  Challenging friends to games over your network is an absolute blast as each of you tries hurriedly to finish you pet's food before your opponent.  Playing against the computer honestly isn't all that enjoyable.

Overall: 9
One of the best independent games that I've played.  I am quite sure that anyone who picks up Cramgene will be pleasantly surprised, and if you have someone at home to play games with and two computers networked together, you'll have many hours of fun with this title.Added: March 29th 2003
Reviewer: The Mole
Score:
Related Link: Cramgene Screenshots
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Language: english