Also On: PS3, PS4, PC
Publisher: Curve Digital
Developer: Crunching Koalas
Medium: Digital
Players: 1
Online: No
ESRB: E
Itโs not hard to figure out where MouseCraft draws its inspiration from: itโs basically Lemmings, but with mice. Sure, thereโs a hint of Tetris in there, and yes, the game makes some nods towards a plot with a few quick cutscenes about a mad scientist, but really, when you get down to it, MouseCraft is Lemmings with a different rodent.
On the upside, of course, at least itโs Lemmings done well. Having endured a pair of mediocre A-Men games that suffered from rapidly diminishing returns, I know firsthand how quickly the formula can grow stale, and thatโs not the case here. Thereโs plenty of variety among MouseCraftโs puzzling levels, and the game throws enough curveballs at you that it doesnโt seem totally derivative. The Tetris connection, for example, comes from the fact that you have to slot in blocks of various shapes to help your mice reach their destinations โ not exactly an earth-shattering innovation, but still a nice change of pace. Similarly, you get advance notice on some levelsโ obstacles by watching little rat robots plummet to their deaths, blow up and drown; overall, they may not add a whole lot, but they still provide the game with some fun color.
And speaking of color: MouseCraft looks nice, especially on the Vitaโs screen. Compared to its direct competitors on the handheld โ which is to say, those aforementioned A-Men games, plus Lemmings Touch โ this game is pretty visually appealing. That doesnโt mean thereโs more to it than a scientist looking ominous in the background and a bit of animation here and there, but on the whole, itโs nice to look at.
All in all, though, what you see is exactly what you get. Youโre still trying to get all your mice from Point A to Point B, and you have to do that over and over again. Itโs not exactly a formula that lends itself to tremendous amounts of innovation, so if youโre looking to MouseCraft for that, youโll be sorely disappointed. If you just want some enjoyably pleasant puzzle-platforming, however, then youโre in luck, because thatโs exactly what this is โ no more, and no less.