Think Outside the Box

Intro

"Think Outside the Box" is a puzzle game developed by Pokemaniac using RPG Maker XP. An engine whose controls always slightly irritate me since I like to interact with objects using the z key, but this engine has the enter key programmed for this purpose. Though I really can't hold this against the developer since this holds true for every game made with this engine. I've just always found it suboptimal. Though, I suppose I'm getting a bit off topic at this point and should focus on the story of "Think Outside the Box".

Story
Summary

You can play as either a girl or boy box that has been cast off into a dungeon by your parents in order to learn innovation. As part of this process you need to discover the various ways you can exit three different rooms. A task that will require you to think outside the box instead of within it. Even if all of the rooms are rectangles which as we all know are just a lazy bootleg version of a box.

Great Strength/Weakness

I'll admit I really can't think of a narrative strength that works in this game's favor. After all, this is a game that is all about it's logic puzzles. As a result the narrative itself just serves to give the player a bit of justification for finding all of the solutions. Though, I'm not sure the final reward is really worth it.



After all our reward for finding all of the solutions without the use of hints is to be sentenced to hard labor in a mine. And I don't know about you, but I'm against child labor. Albeit it does seem to this is meant to be taken as a joke. Especially with the young box in question shouting in joy at being assigned this task, but I really don't find it that amusing.

As for the game's greatest narrative weakness I'd say it's the game's attempts at comedy. I suppose some would disagree, but most of the jokes tend to fall flat on their face in my opinion even with me trying to improve them by naming my character bees.


Not the BEES!!!!

Gameplay

As previously mentioned this game is a logic puzzle where you need to combine and use various items in order to gain access to doors to exit the stages. These solutions can range from painting stuff red to draw in a bull to melting a ghost with holy water. On one hand some of these solutions are rather easy to find and really don't require that much lateral thinking in my opinion. On the other hand some of the solutions are much harder to figure out on your own and sometimes even the hints come up a bit short. Though I suppose how easy or hard this game is overall is going to vary a lot from person to person.

Graphics

Graphically the game uses entirely custom assets. Which is always a plus in my opinion since I've seen the RTP assets for this engine quite a few times over the years.



On the negative side of the scale a lot of the assets in this game look like they were made with paint or a tool similar to it. So this game really isn't going to visually wow anybody.

Sound

On the sound side of things the game doesn't appear to utilize the RTP as far as I can tell, but the music and sound effects in this game are rather forgettable. Though it is a bit weird that the background music completely stops during cut scenes. I suppose this is to prevent it from messing with the sound effects that play during those scenes, but I still find it an odd choice.

Bugs

This game contains a few notable bugs. And while the developer didn't create a section for this game that covers them. It still annoys me that this game has major game breaking bugs in it that were never fixed. For starters if you use the same solution for the locked or trap door in room 2 it will cause you to get stuck in a black room since the transfer process to the hallway won't occur. Though I suppose being stuck in the blackness isn't that bad since you can still pull up the menu and return to the title screen. So if you have a recent save file this issue won't screw you over to badly, but it feels weird telling people they should regularly save in a game where even if you die you just reappear in the hallway where you can choose which level you want to play in order to find a new solution.

Though I suppose the most devastating major bug is the final one. If you use the wrong item when trying to block the ghost in room 3 it will cause the game to lock up.



And the only way to get off this screen is to close the game completely since you can't even pull up the menu to send yourself back to the title screen.

Conclusion

"Think Outside the Box" is a logic puzzle game whose overall game length is pretty variable. If you know all of the solutions you can get through the entire game in under 25 minutes. If your going in blind it may take a little longer than that or a lot longer depending on your skill level. It took me around 90 minutes or so to get through the entire game, but I don't know if that's a solid base line for this project or not. At any rate if your a fan of puzzles you'll probably get your brain tickled a little bit by some of the solutions, but I can't give this game an average score or better in good faith because of the major bugs contained within this game.