Ewan takes "Edge", a part-action, part-strategy game that should have been a slam dunk success and discovers that, ultimately, it's not challenging enough or as much fun as it should have been. One for waiting at the bus stop, perhaps, rather than a living room addiction?

“That’s a Ewan game if I ever saw one,” remarked Steve as he passed me the Ovi Store link to the latest arcade game from Connect2Media. Edge has you taking on the roll of all seeing controller, guiding a cube around a 3D maze, picking up tokens, pushing switches and navigating your way to the exit square.

There’s only one problem with it. There’s no challenge and it’s not fun. Okay, two problems.

I’ve no problem with the look of the game, in fact I’d go out of my way and use this as an example to other developers in that even a simple concept of a “blocky” maze in three dimensions can have a little bit of style mixed into it, and it makes a huge difference to the perception of the game. Even the "1970’s Computer” look to all the menu screens with big angular fonts and an essentially monochrome display with crashes of colour highlighting the text has a brash feel that projects confidence.

Neither are the controls a problem. As well as using the touch-screen to pull the cube around the screen (the view always stays centred on your cube), you have the option to use the tilt sensor in your phone to influence the movement. It’s a nice idea, and it works as much as it can, but I found it a touch frustrating and not accurate enough for an arcade game of this ilk, especially one that times your progress against the clock. So it was switched off and back to the touch screen.

But a nice looking interface and innovative controls do not make a game. A game makes a game, and for all the style on display, I never felt that Edge was giving me a challenge – rather it was saying “pass the time with me, I look really cute.” Which might work if I had never seen a game this beautiful before, but unfortunately “Deathchase 3D” beat them to it.

The challenge in the game is twofold – the first is to get the best time for the level, which works as far as it can, which isn’t that far in my book. I look to my progression through the levels and how much gaming they provide. And in my case it’s just not that much. The twist in Edge is that your cube can “roll up” to a platform that’s one cube high. So if you find a staircase, you can climb up it as long as the steps are as high as your cube.

So you have the problem of how to climb around the landscape and navigate the valleys and high passes so you can reach all the objects you need to in the level. Progress is complicated by having squares you can only go across once before they crumble, moving platforms, and of course drops to your death over the edge of the playing field.

Normally I’m a sucker for games like this (see Steve’s earlier quote), and while I can't explain why, there’s just something about Edge that makes it… boring.

I’ve kept coming back to this over the weekend to see if I’ve missed something, to see if I’m just in a rubbish mood or if I’m missing something in the game. Unfortunately I can’t find anything. Even with a fair crack at the whip, there’s no siren call from Edge to pull me back.

There is a good game in here somewhere, and there’s every chance that others will like what is here, but this is my review. Edge just isn’t edgy enough.

-- Ewan Spence, March 2010.