Review: Virion - A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste
by Allan Curtis
October 13, 2010
Overview & Features
Virion is a virus based puzzle game by Stigmergry Games. It features unique shape matching gameplay. Virion features dozens of levels, challenging gameplay and not a lot else.
The Good
Virion is sort of a matching game, but its gameplay is quite different from most puzzle games.
Virion takes place inside various brains. For unknown reasons, a virulent virus affecting brains is on the loose and you have to stop it with some sort of "receptors." The idea is rather incoherent and the game itself has no plot to speak of.
There is a sphere in the center of the screen. From this sphere extend "arms" with shaped ends that are constantly rotating around the sphere. Colored shapes randomly float over the screen. Tapping a shape lets you drag it into "orbit" around the sphere. Tapping and holding the shape stops it.
The idea is to take the shapes and line them up with the moving arm that has a matching shape on its end. Once you have the shape and the arm aligned, you tap the sphere to have the arms draw the shapes into the sphere. If you get it right, the arms fall off, more arms extend and the process repeats. Later levels add more shapes, more arms and give you tighter time limits.
When you win a level by removing all the arms you get a star. A gold star means that region of the brain is clear of the virus. Silver stars and bronze stars don't seem to affect anything. After you get enough gold stars you unlock new brains to rid of the virus.
The Bad
The biggest problem with Virion is that its boring. The game is repetitive, awkward, flavorless and features no story whatsoever, despite what the ridiculous sounding app description says about a sci-fi story. The gameplay gets old fast, and the game never mixes it up with new elements or mechanics. It lacks the "hook" that games like Angry Birds and Ninja Chicken 2 have that makes them addictive. Game Center support would have been nice too.
The game is not helped by a completely useless tutorial. One screen of poorly drawn images that in no way convey what the point of the game is doesn't cut it. I had to use Google to find out what I was supposed to do.
Another negative, your fingers are constantly in the way, as the shapes you have to control are smaller than your finger; they are constantly hidden by your own fingers when you're trying to line them up precisely with the arms. I found myself trying to look "under" my finger at an angle just to try to see what I was doing.
Graphically the game is also ugly and dull. Besides the aforementioned tiny shapes, the game features ugly backgrounds, ugly menus and ugly pictures of the people you're saving. The game is sparse sound wise, with a few unimpressive beeps and boop during gameplay. It only features one music track, which suits the sci-fi medical vibe of the game, but gets old fast.
Conclusion
Virion is a flawed game with a rather poor idea. It is not fun, it is executed poorly and it looks and sounds bad. Avoid it.
