Taking the Boulder Xod idea to the next level and beyond, craNKGod has designed a game that will keep you staring at your monitor until you realise that it is beginning to get light outside. Little Square Things is a extremely in-depth puzzle game that has infinite possibilities so far untapped. In the game you (a demigod deciding their fate) must guide the little square things through perilous traps and sticky situations to their ultimate goal, standing atop a cyan fake. Only until all the fakes are covered at the same time may you continue. Each key press you make affects every little square thing on the board, but not all the square things are created equal. The colour of the square thing decides how it will react to your key stroke. A white one will follow your move precisely whilst a black one will go the opposite of your move. Blue ones don't move unless pushed by other square things, and green ones shift their orientation to the cursor keys randomly. There are plenty of other types as well and each will keep you guessing and trying and swearing.
Gameplay consists of avoiding having any of the square things destroyed and ultimately getting them all to their goal. In your way are bullets, lava pits, and viruses. Keeping track of all the little square things on the board and what the next move will do to them is a good way to start, but not always the answer. Sometimes you have to race the clock as a bullet slowly ricochets its way around the board towards a helpless little square thing. Cyan square things don't stop moving until they hit an object and can lead to some very panicked situations at times. The tension is always high, and even if after a few tries you've resolved to sit and think for a while, the tension will still be there when you attempt your new approach. It's almost like brain surgery.
Aside from the original gameplay, the way you progress through the levels is equally original and adds greatly to the amount of times that you can play the game. The levels are represented by a pyramid shaped map on the top left of the screen. Each time you beat a level, you progress further down pyramid. You get a choice of left or right and depending on which, the outcome of the game could be different. This means you only play through 7 of the 28 levels and easily (to lazy to figure out what math to use) over 50 different paths to take through them.
The game could have ended after the 7 levels and most people would be happy, but craNK adds yet another element, bosses. Here you try and race others demigod to prove that you are the supreme being. The two bosses are tseng and craNKGod himself. Beat them and you have beaten the game, but you still you've got a lot more to do if you want to prove you are the master. Go back and start again!
Little Square Things is one of the most addictive ZZT game I have played. It you enjoy the game as much as I did, you download the editor and try and create your own levels. You'll find it's not as easy as it might seem proving how much effort craNKGod must have put into this epic puzzle game.
