Review: 3* Blind Mice - Potential Hidden Gem?
by Staff Writer
January 27, 2010
Overview
3* Blind Mice is a brand new game in the path drawing genre that attempts to change up everything you know about it. You goal is to guide blind mice to a hunk of cheese, and make sure they avoid mousetraps, as they can smell, but can’t see. Rather than drawing the paths of the mice, instead you move the block of cheese and the mouse traps. As the levels increase there are more mousetraps and rats come in which try to steal the cheese from the blind mice, and you need to use mousetraps on the rats. A combo mechanic is included where the mice are worth one point times the number of mice on screen.
Features
Just drag the hunk of cheese around, and the mice will follow it everywhere. Be sure to drag the mousetraps out of their path, or you’ll lose a life which you have three of. You can tap on any mouse or rat to stop them for a split second. Each new mouse is indicated by a flashing red orb on the side. The levels increase infinitely with more mice to deal with, and mouse traps to avoid. You can play in portrait or landscape mode, switching at any time in game. OpenFeint is included for online high scores with three different tables: high score, highest level, and most mice combo. The three blind mice gameplay is luckily a little brighter than the nursery rhyme: Three blind mice, three blind mice, See how they run, see how they run, They all ran after the farmer's wife, Who cut off their tails with a carving knife, Did you ever see such a thing in your life, As three blind mice?
The Good
3 Blind Mice is a wonderful change of pace for the genre. We’ve drawn paths to guide multiple types of items all at once, but we very rarely move one item for everything to follow it. Overall it’s a very engaging game that will keep you coming back for more. The combo mechanic is especially well done letting you chose the amount of risk you want to take. The most difficult aspect is that the mice walk in straight lines to the cheese, and that causes a challenge as you move the cheese. The mice may walk over mousetraps as their straight line adjusts to the cheese. This multiplies quickly as you have about 10 mice on screen all coming from different locations with multiple mousetraps they can walk over. Usually in path drawing you draw a curved line to avoid hazards, but it requires more skill and attention in 3 blind mice. A nice feature is that you have three lives, so you can keep the hectic action going, rather than having to start over at one mistake.
It’s just loads of fun dragging the block of cheese around, herding multiple mice, while avoiding all of the mousetraps. The game starts slowly, but then really gets hectic with enough mousetraps to fill half the screen, rats appearing quite often, and multiple mice walking around aloof to their surroundings.
3 Blind Mice is exceptionally designed with such a high degree of polish. The mice are super cute from the icon image to the little ones walking toward the cheese completely blind. The animations are well done too, highlighted by the rats getting caught in a mousetrap.
The three blind mice tune you knew as a kid is included during the gameplay, and it’s absolutely wonderful to listen to. The little squeaks of the mice are adorable to go with their visual cuteness. The controls work perfectly, always picking up your finger drags.
OpenFeint inclusion of three different high score tables adds more incentive than just being addicted to the gameplay. A nice save system is also included which picks up on the most recent level you left off.
The Bad
There is just endless survival mode. There are no different maps or locations, so the game always looks the same. There is always the same objective, with just more mice, mousetraps, and rats, but no change in mechanics.
With that said the game is still addictive and fun every time you play it. You can change the way you play deciding how many mice you want to keep on screen. You can also choose how much you want to move the block of cheese.
Another feature that is lacking is a speed up button. It would be nice to speed up the first few levels to get into the meat of the game quicker. The mice do move pretty slowly, and they enter slowly, as well. Also OpenFeint has three high score tables, but no achievements.
