POSTED 11/2/15


SPLICE

Cipher Prime

It’s rare to come across a game celebrating luminously-hued ice pole/ice cream hybrids on a stick which Ford decided were good colour swatches for their utes.

It’s still rare, for this Splice has absolutely zero to do with iced confectionery.

Instead, it’s all about science. Weird science, but without a humanised Barbie and a killer ’80s soundtrack (although the varying degrees of piano-fuelled urgency here are quite magnificent, despite a lack of improbable hair and DX7 chime sounds).

Much like real science, you’ll need a puzzle-minded approach to the slickly-presented Splice. Not just because it’s sciencematific, but also because it’s a puzzle game. You literally get involved at a cellular level, with the object being to rearrange strands (which, speaking of killer ’80s soundtracks, look remarkably like Peter Saville’s cover for New Order’s sheep-infused ‘Fine Time’ single) to meet exacting standards. Well, to make them match the shadow strand that allows progress.

Upon first encounter it can be baffling, unless you’re like all hyper-brainy and stuff. You click on certain strand bits and drag them to certain greyed-out strand receptacles. From here they’ll sproing into the structure either how you wish or, more likely, how you don’t.

Variations on basic capsulesque cells appear the further you progress. Some will multiply, others will commit teensy-weensy, only-viewable-by-microscope suicide in a tragic genetic ‘FOOF!’ of Shakespearean proportions.

Naturally it isn’t just a matter of trial and error, for you’ve only a set move quota before you’ve failed miserably as a scientist and need to do a comeback tour cleaning dunnies, burger flipping or something else that any real science-like person wouldn’t be caught dead doing. Fucking snobs that they are.

With some 77 levels to conquer there’s much challenge, but Splice really is only for hardcore thinker puzzler types. It’s not elitist, it just requires serious banging together of brain cells.

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