Eets

"Wow" is not a word I often start a review with, but, well... Wow! I've reviewed this really neat game called Eets. Eets is the name of a little creature that for lack of a better description a) wears his emotions on his sleeve, b) never passes-up an opportunity to snack, and c) is on a mission to unbamboozle the world's puzzles. Eets inhabits a world filled with animated foodstuffs as well as Choco Clouds, Prankster Whales, Happy Marshmallow Buds, Superpigs, and... ! Klei Entertainment has whipped-up a game from scratch, serving the gamers a plate-full of Fun with their game- Eets.

Essentially, Eets is a challenging puzzle-like game, wherein you are presented with a platformed screen and "Eets" must get from point A to point B. To accomplish this goal, you place various objects, creatures, or food along the playfield to change Eets mood, swallow-and-spit (as in Eets gets spit out... of a whale... ya gotta see it), or to cause a chain-reaction on screen altering the playfield geography. Confused? Well, don't be... as a game progresses there are in-game tutorials that keep you in the know.

Every mood Eets moves into and out of - happy, angry, sad, scared, etc., is graphically rendered with care and attention to detail. 'Twas easy to fall in love with Eets due to this sort of eye-candy, not just because of it's primary character- this game has perhaps the best cast of characters assembled in a game that I've seen in quite a while!

On stage with Eets are a host of other characters - all unique, colorfully animated and sporting specific behaviors. The land itself is a lively one with moving foregrounds, backgrounds, depictions of daytime, dusk, and night, and a variety of landscapes ranging from a desert to a jungle. Characters and objects interact and react to each other on the playfield at a pace that allows the gamer to follow Eets actions as well as all of the other playful mayhem occurring on-screen as well. While reviewing this game I found it a real treat to enjoy the level of character development on-screen that the developer obviously put a lot of work into.

I rarely take the time to isolate a game's music and play it on my desktop while I'm writing - it's happened twice now and Eets is one of those games. Boasting only 4 tracks, they are however marvelous pieces of toe-tapping jazz-like music geared to keep you rockin' in your chair while adding to the whimsical nature of the game.

The remainder of Eets soundscape that involves vocalizations of Eets' moods as well as all of the obligatory sounds of the various creatures, objects, and actions. Music and sound merge to provide a wonderful sense of playfulness; both Tom Chi and Gareth Madoc-Jones (soundtrack and sound engineer) did an excellent job with this game.

When entering the world of Eets you'll be introduced to a richly detailed and colorful creation. You'll not be overwhelmed with a steep learning-curve either - you're shown what to do and how things work as you progress in the game - a feature that works amazingly well and makes the game real easy to pick-up and play. Eets is a game wherein each screen/puzzle/episode is a chapter to be thought-out, arranged, and played. As this is done you'll also be entertained and amused with events as they unfold on the screen. This is a casual game that easy to step in-and-out of. What made this game shine for me is that it makes no demands of the player and yet it's likely that you'll lose track of time while playing.

Eets has such a lot going for it so that it will be a game on your hard-drive for a long-time to come. Like many games, Eets comes with an easy to use point-and-click/drag-and-drop puzzle maker/editor which allows for creativity on the players' part. Alone, these features make for a reasonably long-lived game experience - but make your way to the Eets homepage and be amazed: Klei Entertainment promotes, fosters, and entertains the notion of player community. Furthermore, this community has posted 70-plus fan-made puzzles and counting as of my last visit - this game has staying-power at 5 to 10 minutes a puzzle!

Whether you've a lot of time to play or very little, maybe you love puzzles or give them little thought - this game is a winner! Any of the individual elements of this game (sound, graphics, user-interface characters, etc.) on its own is great, however these elements all blend together in a way that raises the bar a bit higher for the Indie Community's standards for excellence. Put Eets on your list of games to play - this is a game well worth your time and money 'cause this is good gaming. Wow!

Keywords: eets review, klei entertainment inc reviews, klei entertainment inc games, eets scores, pc game reviews, indie game reviews, independent gaming.