NukeZen

Michael E. | Apr 22, 2010 Games

User rating:

(6 votes, average: 2.83 out of 5)

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Nuke Zen, from Bo Multimedia, is probably the most challenging puzzle game I’ve ever encountered in iTunes. I don’t fully understand it, but does that stop me from playing? Absolutely not!

Here’s the premise: you are Professor Zen, an Albert Einstein-like bloke with an impossibly high IQ. This is a good thing because you’re also a nuclear engineer tasked with stabilizing a series of nuclear reactors on the brink of going Three Mile Island. The fate of the world rests in your highly-skilled hands and not even Jack Bauer can do what you do.

There are 7 nuclear reactors positioned about the world in order of difficulty to restore to stability: Argentina, Africa, England, Russia, Japan, Australia, and America. I’ve been playing this game the past several days (ok, a couple weeks now) and I still don’t get it. There are a few things I do know, however. Each continent has at least one unstable nuclear reactor. The reactor’s unstable because there are a number of “hot” nuclear rods within the reactor. “Hot” rods produce a pink coloration (there’s a Michael Scott joke in there somewhere, but I’ll let you make it). Unstable reactors can be either entirely pink or have a single “hot” rod. Nuclear rods can be shifted and moved about the reactor. The rods remind me of puzzle pieces in that certain nuclear rods fit together better than others. It is the player’s goal to move the rods about the reactor so that they can cool down and produce a nice green color. A reactor that is entirely green is stable. When all the nuclear rods are green, the reactor is safe and you’re a hero; you’ve managed to save a continent and the lives of countless millions of people.

The first few reactors are easy; simple trial and error will solve those. But the game gets more difficult with each new reactor. The more advanced levels have many more nuclear rods to contend with and the possible patterns in which those rods can be assembled and fit together can seem nearly limitless.

Oh, and did I mention you only have so much time to stablize a given reactor? It’s true. The amount of time varies according to the number of points you’ve acquired from solving previous reactors, but if the timer counts down to zero, a great big mushroom cloud will lead you into the afterlife.

NukeZen is a challenging game, but enjoyable. If you’re into puzzle games and games of logic, this is one you’ll want to shell out the $1.99 it’ll cost to own it. The game’s background music is good and varies based on the country in which the reactor is located.

Good luck. It’s only life as you know it that’s as risk. No pressure.

iTunes Link – NukeZen

Version 1.0

Tested on an iPod Touch 3.1.3