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I Heart Geeks!

by Patrick Barnett - January 19, 2012, 12:49 pm EST
Total comments: 19

6

You might be puzzled to death, not in a good way.

I Heart Geeks begins with a great concept: use various items to set off a sequence of events in order to fulfill a set task. The game seems fun at first but fails to do one thing: become different. After finishing all the missions, I felt as if I hadn’t done anything other than popped over a dozen balloons and started an uncountable number of steam engines. I Heart Geeks has its glowing characteristics, but there are some issues that hinder its overall appeal.

Players take on the role of a geek, who is assisting fellow geeks (Milton, Theodore, Gilbert, and Eugene) in teaching the bullies of their school a lesson. The game delves into the puzzles quickly, and doesn’t force you through blocks of dialogue. I greatly appreciated how the lack of an in-depth story allowed me to easily switch between one puzzle and the next.

Each puzzle presents a simple task, such as popping a balloon or putting a ball in a basket. These mundane responsibilities, tasked to you by the geeks, repeat far more than anyone would like them to. Popping identical looking balloons in different ways gets old around the fifth time you do it, and believe me when I say that the fufth time is nowhere near the end of the game. Aside from the main puzzles, there are boss battles that, unlike the rest of the game, have a time limit. These are a nice break from the other missions, and feel more interactive. It’s too bad there were not more of them included.

What I Heart Geeks does do, in order to try and make up for the repetitious nature of the jobs, is give you a whole laboratory's worth of items to work with. Solar panels, steam engines, lasers, and more are all present and at your disposal at various times. Each task only gives you certain tools to work with, but in some cases they aren’t all needed. This great item variety does turn the aforementioned repetitive tasks into less of a chore, but the items come with their own set of problems.

Items are selected using the stylus, then, after switching the screens, placed using the stylus again. Items are selected five at a time, and then placed in the same order they were selected. This causes problems when you select an item like a chain and it has nowhere to go yet. When this happens, you have to go back to the other screen to reselect the item again. This flipping back and forth between screens becomes cumbersome when all you are trying to do is place the items to work with them.



When placing the items on the screen, you can put them any place with open space. This permits you to solve different puzzles in different fashions. Occasionally, I found that my placement of items was better than the game’s suggestion (delivered via the hint system). Although having complete control of where items were placed was great, it created some issues. Using items, such as magnets, required almost complete precision in order to get a required outcome.

The animation style and artwork were both fine; but in a puzzle game they were not my main focus. I could tell what each component in my contraption was, while the geeks assisting me each had a unique feel. By no means were the graphics terrible, but the game’s presentation never gave me that “wow” moment like other handheld titles sometimes do.

I Heart Geeks is a puzzle game that provides short-lived fun. My initial reaction to the play style was favorable, but my high opinion of the game slowly dwindled as its problems began to take shape. Repetitious and boring tasks, coupled with item placement problems, ultimately hold the game back from being a superb puzzler. If you want to quench your scientific side with some physics-based puzzles, this could for you. However, if you are looking for a problem-free puzzle game, I Heart Geeks does not fit that bill.

Summary

Pros
  • Plenty of items to use
  • Quick access to puzzles
Cons
  • Each puzzle is eerily familiar to the last
  • Item selection and placement problems

Talkback

Steel DiverZack Kaplan, Associate EditorJanuary 19, 2012

I'm sick of the word geek and nerd being used as a derogatory statement. I hate how for some reason it is okay to make fun of people because of their interests. I'm sick of shows like Big Bang Theory which jokes are all centered around making fun of geeks. They would be less of an offender if the show was actually entertaining.

TJ SpykeJanuary 19, 2012

Big Bang is easily one of the funniest shows on TV, and they don't really make fun of geeks.

PodingsJanuary 19, 2012

I'm tired of everyone and their step brother claiming to be geeks or nerds because it's hip to be smart.
Subsequently the title of this game bothers me more than the game being a poor mans The Incredible Machine.

Though there really should be more games like this.

leahsdadJanuary 19, 2012

Quote from: TJ

Big Bang is easily one of the funniest shows on TV, and they don't really make fun of geeks.

That may be true, but these days, that's not saying much....Oh, how I miss Arrested Development.  It seems like all comedy on TV has jumped the shark after that show.

TJ SpykeJanuary 19, 2012

I would go so far though as say I think it's one of the funniest shows of the last 15 years. And comedies have had a real upsurge in quality this year.

Quote from: leahsdad

Quote from: TJ

Big Bang is easily one of the funniest shows on TV, and they don't really make fun of geeks.

That may be true, but these days, that's not saying much....Oh, how I miss Arrested Development.  It seems like all comedy on TV has jumped the shark after that show.

There's great comedy on TV right now, and BBT isn't among it. Community, Parks & Rec, Louie, Archer just came back last night, and all of them absolutely destroy any of the garbage on CBS.

TJ SpykeJanuary 20, 2012

Haha. Parks and Recreation is garbage, Community is boring to me, never saw Louie or Archer. BBT is one of the most popular shows on TV with both fans and critics, and for good reason. It's funny, accurate when it comes to science (they even have a professor of physics and astronomy at UCLA as the science adviser), and interesting. Which episodes have you watched? That might impact it since there are one or two episodes that are not great. As for other CBS shows, I don't watch them so I can't comment on their quality.

CericJanuary 20, 2012

I like Big Bang Theory more then any episodes I've seen of Parks and Rec, Archer, or Community. 

I think those other ones are just much too slow.  Though I don't really like the office that much because I don't find silent pauses to be funny.  I know a lot of people who like Big Bang Theory.

I found the few episodes I've seen of Community ok.  I'll probably watch that once I finish with Enterprise.

S-U-P-E-RTy Shughart, Staff AlumnusJanuary 20, 2012

I always thought BBT was to geeks what blackface was to African-Americans. That is to say, that show is awful. So awful that someone once paid me a lot of money to write about how bad it was. A cheap cash-in, sort of like the game in this review.

I'm automatically biased against any show that uses a laugh track in this day and age. The Simpsons and Seinfeld figured that out 20 years ago. There have been shows I've liked since then that had one (NewsRadio, maybe my all-time favorite live-action sitcom, had one I think), but it's a huge strike against it.

Quote from: S-U-P-E-R

I always thought BBT was to geeks what blackface was to African-Americans. That is to say, that show is awful. So awful that someone once paid me a lot of money to write about how bad it was. A cheap cash-in, sort of like the game in this review.

Points for bringing the conversation back to the game. :D

I'm with JP here. Community/Parks & Rec FTW. Though, I despise Parks & Rec's first season.

Yeah, Parks & Rec's first season isn't any good. I didn't even watch all of it; I jumped right to season two on Andy Goergen's recommendation.

Ron Swanson is the best character currently on television.

CericJanuary 20, 2012

leahsdad, Insanolord, Neal, and Super did you guys like Napaleon Dynamite?

S-U-P-E-RTy Shughart, Staff AlumnusJanuary 20, 2012

I still haven't seen it. Maybe something to watch this weekend?

CericJanuary 20, 2012

I'm just sort of curious about that only because I know a lot of People who swear it is one of the funnies things they've seen in a while.  Why My Wife and I didn't get a single laugh from it.

Quote from: Ceric

leahsdad, Insanolord, Neal, and Super did you guys like Napaleon Dynamite?

Nope.

Fatty The HuttJanuary 20, 2012

Not a single reference to Rube Goldberg in this entire review? For shame.
Anyway, game looks like ass. Nice try but fail.

Also, I really like Community, do not like BBT and have never seen Parks n Rec. As for "geek" themed shows, I am partial to The IT Crowd (from UK).

IT Crowd's a great show. And you should check out Parks & Rec. It's on Netflix if you have it, but you should not even attempt to watch season one and skip right to two. It might take a couple episodes to get into, but over the course of watching season two I went from mildly amused to calling it the best comedy on television.

Quote from: Ceric

leahsdad, Insanolord, Neal, and Super did you guys like Napaleon Dynamite?

I think it was ahead of its time (movies/stuff like it have gotten way bigger), but I'm ultimately not a gigantic fan.

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I Heart Geeks! Box Art

Genre Puzzle
Developer SevenOne Intermedia
Players1 - 2

Worldwide Releases

na: I Heart Geeks!
Release Dec 13, 2011
PublisherCDV Software Entertainment AG
RatingEveryone

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