Pipe Mania

Paul's plumbing isn't what it once was...

Plumbers aren't exactly my favourite tradesmen, they seem unable to set foot in my house without being paid an exorbitant call-out charge and then do a wonderful job of making sure the task they're there to do takes twice as long as first estimated and involves at least one part they've failed to bring with them ensuring I spend an extra hour or so paying them for the privilege of not having any running water while they probably sit in a car park and eat their lunch.

Thankfully, despite the abundance of pipes and flowing liquid Pipe Mania isn't really a plumbing game any more than Tetris is a bricklaying sim. Originally released way back in 1989 on the Amiga and now remade for the PSP, Pipe Mania is a classic puzzle game which asks players to lay a pipeline between two points using parts given at random. Speed is of the essence as the end of a countdown triggers the flow of Flooze through the pipe causing leaks through any gaps you've left. Leave a leak unchecked for too long and your steadily filling leak meter will reach the top resulting in failure. To make things that bit more interesting you get more points the longer and more complicated your completed pipe is and you lose points for any pieces you've built over or wasted at the end of each level.

In a vain attempt to inject some character (and humour?) into things, Empire Interactive have to furnished the single player game with a cast of characters and a storyline about a paradise island ruined by the ultimate cowboy plumber. I say 'attempt' because not only is it a dreadfully weak excuse for a plot, it doesn't really effect the game's levels in any way. If you've gone to the trouble of producing a story, however needless, you'd have thought you'd have at least found a way for it to blend into the levels in some meaningful way. Puzzle Quest may have successfully managed to blend a plot into a puzzle game but that doesn't mean it's a good idea the rest of the time and Pipe Mania is a perfect example of a puzzler that would have worked better without one.

There are various ways to play the game; World mode is the main story-based single player experience that covers eight different areas each with their own theme. There's also an enjoyable scrolling arcade mode which sees you creating a pipe running left to right across a screen that starts to scroll, get caught off the edge of the screen and its game over. You can also choose to play in Classic mode if you're feeling particularly sadistic since that removes the handy leak meter meaning any wastage at all and you'll be seeing the failure screen. Multiplayer is also catered for in the form of a two player versus mode via a handy game sharing option if you've got another PSP and a friend handy.

Its simple grid-based nature means there's not really a way of making Pipe Mania hugely pretty so instead the developers have wisely focused on making things clear and easy to understand using slick cartoon style visuals that suit the game perfectly. For all their pointlessness the cut scenes are nicely done and the stages themselves are always easy to see and with a control scheme that's perfect in its simplicity there's never any reason to blame anyone but yourself when you fail a level.

As expected it doesn't take long to discover just why the Pipe Mania formula has remained a gaming standard for almost two decades, it's still as addictive now as it ever was. As with all good games of this ilk you know it's grabbed you by the whatsits when you find yourself in 'the zone' laying pipes as if it were as natural as breathing. There are a couple of frustrations, the difficulty does seem to spike a little in places and there's always that nagging feeling at the tail end of a tough level that the game knows exactly what piece you want and is simply holding it back to be dramatic.

However, it is the game's very familiarity that leads to its one genuine drawback. Over the years the Pipe Mania template has cropped up everywhere from free flash efforts to the hacking mini games in BioShock this lends a certain sense of 'been there done that' to things which may put some people off shelling out new money for the experience.

It helps that we're talking about a PSP game here, Pipe Mania in the palm of your hand is a new and very welcome experience however much you've played this kind of thing before. Puzzle games are always ideal for handheld consoles, even gamers unwilling to give such things much time on their massive 42" HD Plasma screens will often allow themselves to be charmed in portable form, especially when the game in question is priced firmly in impulse buy territory like Pipe Mania.

I may not have much time for plumbers but I've always had a soft spot for Pipe Mania and this new version is a solid update that does nothing to diminish the addictive nature of the gameplay. Okay, so it's not got much new under the bonnet and you can probably find loads of very similar free browser-based games if you feel the need. But the fact its portable, is sporting an attractive budget price, and doesn't charge you by the hour or leave you without hot water for days means it still seems like a bargain to me.

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By Paul Newcombe