![]() SUMMERTIME MADNESS MASHUP SERIESDue 26 th January on PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series and Switch. Summertime Madness is published by Sometimes You. Uneven but never uninteresting – that’s the madness of Summertime Madness. And despite some shortcomings with puzzle variety during the second half, ‘on the go’ Switch players will likely relish the quick fix the first half provides. For PS4/PS5 owners, it’s easier to recommend. Game Pass is rife with similar games that provide near-identical mental workouts, with this bearing resemblance to last year’s Myst remake in particular. On Xbox One/Xbox Series, Summertime Madness is a bit of a hard sell. SUMMERTIME MADNESS MASHUP HOW TOWe imagine additional playthroughs will be far less stressful, knowing what to expect and how to beat the tricker sections. With three kinds of collectable to find, a handful of secrets to discover, and the 3-hour limit to tackle, you won’t be seeing everything on your first playthrough. Summertime Madness is at least taxing throughout, albeit for varying reasons. It’s a far cry from the luscious, visually pleasing, opening. Sadly, this momentum isn’t carried forward – the penultimate puzzle takes place in a deary floating maze with numerous dead ends and (purposely) limited visibility. The second half isn’t all bad, though – there’s an ingenious Hideo Kojima-esque puzzle that requires out of the box thinking, eventually resulting in a ‘eureka’ moment. Some variety would have helped this puzzle feel less chore-like. While it definitely provides a challenge, why the developers didn’t add anything beyond switch flicking is a mystery. This puzzle is a significant undertaking, clearly intended to take in the vicinity of an hour. Here, you’re tasked with finding and activating numerous switches to clear a tram route while swapping between two realms. As such, these ‘starter’ puzzles can be cleared relatively quickly, which is moderately satisfying.Ī shake-up then takes place during the second half, making way for a time-consuming, multi-layered, puzzle that compasses an entire town. After entering these areas, the task at hand soon becomes obvious – even without instructions. The game’s first half mostly focuses on smaller, condensed, puzzles that take place in self-contained areas. We become stuck on a puzzle involving rotating gears and eventually asked for a hint…which simply showed us which location to head next. Every time it’s used, fifteen minutes are deducted from the clock. The worst offender is a puzzle involving balancing two scales perfectly, where each item – from a pool of around twenty – must be cycled through manually by flicking the analogue stick.Īlthough there’s no quest log and little in the way of guidance, there is a hint system – intended as a last resort. Although just a one-button interface is used, it can still be a bit finicky to interact with smaller objects, making it clear this was intended to be played with a mouse originally. There’s no tutorial to speak of just a simple puzzle taking place on a boat to ease you in. ![]() It’s also here the game looks its best, with later sections being considerably bleaker. It begins peacefully enough, introducing a bright and colourful hub world with rolling green grass and calm seas. Amounting pressure certainly made the experience a more memorable one. As we tried to figure out the penultimate puzzle, with just over five hours on the clock, we did start to fret our war-torn hero might not make it. A potential three hours is at least possible, being another optional limit. If they can’t escape the painting’s puzzles within six hours, they’ll be trapped forever.įor the most part, we didn’t pay much attention to time spent – partly because it isn’t clear what the game’s typical runtime is. This isn’t merely a gameplay feature – it’s also the plot’s crux, with our weary lead leaping into a magical painting to flee the horrors of World War II. At any time, it’s possible to bring up the protagonist’s pocket watch to see how much time is left. Summertime Madness is the exception, intended to be played with a six-hour time limit. ![]() Modern puzzle adventures are usually relaxed affairs that give ample time to solve their brain teasers. ![]()
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