There was a bit of time in 2011-2015 where I was fully obsessed with this game and the obsession came to a head in Late September 2014 when after 2 months of designing and running reactors on paper, an iPad and an Android tablet (usually simultaneously) where I finally beat the last level of the main campaign from scratch with absolutely no outside assistance. (Took a few months to recover before uploading my designs to Steam.)
I own Space Chem and 63 Corvi on Android, iOS, and PC (Both on steam and DRM free). 3 SpaceChem t-shirts, all of the swag you can imagine that was created by Zachtronics for the game and I have easily over 4000 hours played across all platforms (not to mention the ridiculous amount of time I spent doodling and planning on chemistry lab graph paper).
With that out of the way here's a review:
Warning, this game is not for hardcore puzzle game fans.This game is specifically for those who need to be obsessed with puzzles to the point of tryharding.
Have you ever thought you could beat Tetris?
Have you ever
actually beaten Tetris?
That's what playing SpaceChem feels like.
In brief SpaceChem is a chemistry sim where you are tasked with creating a functional solution with limited resources using reactors which perform actions based on rails of commands you build and set in motion.
SpaceChem is incredibly tedious and it will cause you mental anguish to the point where you might have a nervous breakdown. Need proof?
Here's the statistics of people who actually complete the game: (Without Guides)
Image courtesy:
http://www.zachtronics.com/spacechem-statistics-time/You'll note that the further players get in the game the less they want/are able to finish it.
In other words it is truly an incredible humbling experience insofar as measuring your own intelligence. It's like an IQ test, if you apply yourself you will succeed, if you're haphazard about it (Like using guides or other players solutions) you will still succeed but it will make much
much easier than if you had just
tried on your own.
Most levels in this game have hundreds of millions of potential ways to solve EACH PUZZLE. If you try you will complete every level it is just a matter of designing your solutions.
I know my summary score and my personal score don't add up, but this game is a 5/5. it is a masterpiece and just because the audio/story/visuals aren't "the best" it is a legendary game and deserves no less than a perfect score.
Audio: 3/5 - Adequate
Graphics: 4/5 - Sensible and useful but still a little confusing at points.
Story: 2/5 - Not really inspiring or terrible but below average for necessity.
Gameplay: - 5/5 - Legendary comprehensive chemistry factory game.
Overall: 5/5 - I wouldn't give back the thousands of hours I've spent playing this game. I loved it, and I am proudly a Partner Reaction Engineer.
5.0