Mobile Game of the Week: Unmechanical (iOS)

By Garrett Martin | March 26, 2013 | 10:42am

Video Games Reviews Mobile Game

This PC puzzler from 2012 has just arrived on iOS devices, and its nice graphics and smart puzzle design make the transition without any problems. The new control scheme almost bungles the whole operation, though, and makes me think Unmechanical is best left to the computer.

In Unmechanical I pilot a tiny robot that looks like a decaying apple as it flies like a helicopter through a series of mysterious, puzzle-filled mazes. The control scheme is similar to the classic point and click but with persistent motion and updated for touch-screens. I touch a spot and my little buddy floats continually in that direction until I lift my finger or until he runs into a wall. He’s slow to start, slow to stop and slow to change direction, though, making it hard to guide him as precisely as I’d like. It’s a poor substitute for a joypad or the WASD keys.

Puzzles range from simple memorization, like an early riff on Simon, to complex, multi-step exercises that string together every little trick learned up to that point. Because, you know, it’s a puzzle game, and that’s what puzzle games do. There are some genuine stumpers here, and I had to reset a couple of times when I mucked a puzzle up beyond repair. The game will challenge your brain in pleasurable ways.