Game Introduction
For this week’s critical play, I played the puzzle game Fireboy & Watergirl in the Forest Temple on CoolMathGames.com. This is a two-player game created by Oslo Albet intended for close friends who can work collaboratively ages 7+.
How To Play
Fireboy & Watergirl is a collaborative game that, much like Super Mario Bros, slowly builds individual skill loops (like jumping and running) before combining them to more complex skills (like jumping across stones over a vat of poison) for navigating a jungle obstacle course.
The two players must work together to solve the puzzle of capturing all the gemstones for the level and making it to the exit. Players have to move levers, hold buttons, and push rocks to help their partner move through the obstacle course, requiring partners to work together and rely on one other to reach the exit. Thus, the game uses the mechanic of collaborative puzzles to create a dynamic of teamwork that enables the fun of fellowship between partners. This fellowship is amplified by the increasing challenge of each level as the skills required and the necessary collaborative brainstorming for solving the obstacle course both increase. Partners are forced to rely on one another more and more as the challenge of each level increases.
Gameplay
When I played Fireboy & Watergirl, I played with my significant other. Because the game relies so much on collaboration, the difference in skill becomes more apparent as the levels progress. As a very competitive person, I felt tinges of frustration every time my partner fell into poison or pushed the wrong lever, slowing us down. Thus, the fun of fellowship was a bit of a fail for us due to the gap in abilities.
Another aspect of the game that I might adjust based on skill and age is the way in which difficult increases. Since I’d played games like this before, I found the very early levels to be much to easy for a young adult. However, players are forced to play through all of these easy levels to access the harder ones. Thus, players who might be older and pick up the skills easier may end up finding the game too easy and miss that narrow channel of flow. Thus, if there was a way to adjust difficulty, such as a hard mode right from the start, the game would be more broadly enjoyable for all skill levels and ages.
But overall, I still really enjoyed playing the game with my significant other and would do so again.
