Chuck’s Challenge 3D 2020 is a puzzle game developed and published by Niffler Ltd, the creators behind the development of the series, Chip’s Challenge.
When you first enter the game, there are 6 open level packs: Asida, Clottie, Eclair, Bebinca, Dobos, and Flummery. The other 2 packs, Gelato and Haupia, can be unlocked by purchasing another bundle. Each pack contains 25 levels which means that the game comes with 150 official puzzle levels. The packs also vary in their level of difficulty from easy, medium, hard, to tough.
I thought it was pretty cool how you can explore different packs right from the beginning. Although it is good to start at Asida when you first play, I don’t believe the game requires you to play the Asida pack first. The first level of Asida has the opening dialogue between Chuck and Woop (the two main characters in this game) but to be honest, the storyline doesn’t seem to be very important because you really get nothing out of the opening dialogue.
Throughout the game, some levels have a Hawaiian shirt tile. Interacting/stepping on this tile will pop up with an interaction between Chuck and Woop. Sometimes their interactions will provide insight on different objects that are on the map (especially in the first level pack).
In terms of gameplay, you can use a controller to play or a keyboard (which I used). Movements are simple. You can use both the WSAD keys to move Woop or the arrow keys. Each level is a puzzle and the objective is to get Woop to the end (the warp like tile) in the least amount of steps and shortest time. I believe if you score in a certain range then you can unlock the gold medal for the level along with the silver and the bronze medal. At the end of each level, there is a leader board so you can also compete with other players to try and get first place or at least in the top 5.
One neat feature in the game is the undo button. This takes Woop back to the last step made. I found it especially helpful during the times when I accidentally killed Woop by misstepping. Another thing that I thought was pretty cool was the ability to rotate the camera.
Sometimes levels have hints, which can be shown by pressing the default “H” key or clicking on the pause menu. I believe most levels don’t have hints but when a level does, the hint actually shows you the solution to get Woop to the end. One thing that I found a bit frustrating was that I couldn’t exit out of the hint/solution playthrough unless I restarted the level. I wish pressing the ESC key would have exited out of the solution.
In Chuck’s Challenge 3D 2020, in addition to playing the given levels, you can create your own levels and share them with other players. There’s a tab on the home screen called search that also allows you to play other player’s map/level. I thought that was super cool because essentially as long as people create, you can never run out of levels to play!
There’s a lot of content in this game but I was pretty confused with the storyline. I wish they explored the story a little bit more or at least have a better storyline. All I got from the first pack was that Chuck was summoned by Woop and for some reason we need to bring Woop to the exit? However, if you read the description of the game, then you can understand that Woop is a puzzle-loving alien that summoned Chuck to make him puzzles that he can solve. I don’t think this was ever really explained in the game which kind of a missed opportunity. I definitely think it would have made the storyline better or at least clearer to understand. Sometimes the interactions between Chuck and Woop don’t make sense. Maybe the developers were trying to be funny but it got me more confused. For example, Woop considers Chuck as a monkey or something?
Another thing that I feel would make the gameplay a bit smoother is if the level automatically reset/restarted after Woop passes out. Currently, players have to press the default “R” key or open the pause menu to restart. I guess I can see why the creators did this — automatically restarting could impact the time to finish the level if some players weren’t aware that the level restarted. In that sense, I believe a pop-up or some change after he passes out would be great.
One thing that I did notice was that the game was pretty laggy. It might just be my computer but it took me a little bit out of the experience. I did change the resolution to simple at one point and that helped a bit.
Check Out the Chuck’s Challenge 3D 2020 Trailer:
Chuck’s Challenge 3D 2020 is available for $9.99 for Windows PC, Mac, and Linux via Steam. You can also learn more about the game here: http://www.chuckschallenge.com/index.htm
7/10
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Steam Review
I'm a sophomore studying Computer Science at the University of Michigan. I'm really interested in how technology can impact lives through game development. One of the things that I really like about gaming is that, not only is it fun and relaxing, but there are so many ideas you can incorporate into games and their storylines such as meaningful lessons/messages.
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