Atomix is an interesting little puzzle game that is sometimes simply called Atomic. This particular version is a remake of an early nineties original and was done by a Belgium programmer named Phillipe Lerise. This version of Atomix cleans up some bugs and offers a little bit more color to the better graphics, but is otherwise identical to the original. The game focuses on the scientific field of chemistry, combining single atoms to form more complex molecules.
When the first of the game’s thirty levels opens up, the user will notice a small silver maze on the right hand side of the screen.
The left side is used to show things like score, time limit and it will also display a pattern of colored orbs. Within the maze are several colored orbs. The goal is to put those orbs within the maze together to look exactly like the one on display in the left portion of the screen. Each of the orbs represents a particle, and together the particles will make up a more complex molecule. The first puzzle, for example, shows two orbs representing hydrogen and one representing oxygen. The user will have to combine them to create the water molecule that is displayed on the left.
While this sounds easy, there are several factors that add to its difficulty. The first is the time frame. Depending
on the difficulty level, the user could have as little as thirty seconds to combine the atoms. The levels do become harder as they progress, but they do not change with the difficulty level. Only the time changes. There is a practice feature that is completely untimed. The second challenge to the game is the layout of each maze. There are multiple corners, chutes, long passageways, and wide open spaces that the user must navigate the atoms through. The problem is that once an atom is put in motion, it will not stop until it touches something: either a wall or another atom. The trick seems to be combining the particles at the right place so that all the pieces of the puzzle can reach the hub that is forming the new molecule.
This is a very frustrating little game, but it is very fun. The game can be replayed countless times, even though the puzzles are the same for every level. The first five are fairly easy, but after that it will require multiple moves to attain the goal and make the molecule, and this becomes very, very tricky to get the sequencing correct. This is a great challenge for plans of the puzzle game.
