Developer/Publisher: CogniToy
Reviewed by SailorMur on 7/2/01

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First Impressions:

Graphics:

The graphics are interesting - basic and nothing to write home about, then changing to impressive. The vehicle looks odd and 2D while you're setting the components, but you can grab the vehicle with your mouse and turn it, and suddenly it's 3-D, the components are placed in the right place, and it looks really good. Then, to place more components, it goes back to 2D, top-down view.

The 3D arenas are nice, with good attention to detail in the various rooms in the research station, but this is not the game you would use to show off your new graphics card. There seemed to be a little clipping bug when my hovercraft slammed helplessly into the wall again and again (more on that later).

Sound/Music:

Some game music is bad. Some is good. And some is catchy music that is just a little too catchy, and you find it going round and round your head, which is the case with MindRover. They could have done with a little less emphasis on the techno. I found myself turning it down so I could concentrate on the action.

Gameplay:

You start with an empty body (chassis), and choose from nine vehicle types: three levels of light, medium and heavy vehicles in the Wheeled, Hovercraft and Treaded categories. Some vehicles are not allowed in some scenarios (for example, in the Drag Race, you may only use Hovercrafts).

You will get a top-down view of your vehicle with a certain number of squares. The larger the chassis, the more squares you get. These are for your physical components. You can choose between several types, movement, navigation, and weapons being just a handful of categories (The "Extras" category had things such as Taxi light, Police light, and fireworks listed. Those are fun to use, however watch how much room and weight they take up!) You have a set umber of points and weight you can have on a mission, and each component counts towards those limits. If you go over either points or weight, you can't advance to the next screen.

You will need some sort of thruster/engine at the very least, steering mechanism for the engine, and possibly some navigation elements. For the more detailed missions, you will have to worry about weapons and storage compartments.

When you're done with the equipping of the components you will come to the wiring stage.

It is not enough to just put the engine and weapon on the vehicle and hope (although I did try that). You need to set some wires between, say, the engine and the steering mechanism, or the radar and the weapons, or the waypoint finders and the thrusters. Your job is to tell the components to talk to each other and what to say, and when. It is a very sophisticated stage, and a mind that loves logic puzzles and programming will be in heaven. You can program the vehicle to travel between waypoints, have radar detect enemies, have timing mechanisms turn thrusters on and off, and have steering and track sensors keep the vehicle from hitting the wall.

The wiring interface is very easy, with a simple drag and drop movement creating a wire and a list of what the wires can do appearing. The game won't let you create a wire where one wouldn't belong, such as between a weapon and a thruster. If you make a mistake, simply click on the wire and delete it.

When you're done with your wiring, you try it out. A screen comes up with a view of a massive room (you did remember you're making tiny vehicles, didn't you?), and perhaps a track, or an enemy. If you told your vehicle to do the right things, it will putter off, in search of an enemy, or a waypoint, or a race trophy. If you wired it incorrectly, it will sit there, run into the wall, and/or get destroyed by the enemy. At any time, you can go back to the setup screens and modify components and wiring and give it another try.

Enjoyment:

On one hand, I had a blast at this game. The idea of making something unique every time to attain the same goal was very attractive.

Sadly, the euphoria only lasted for the tutorials, where the helpful game text told me what to do during the wiring stage. I got limited knowledge on how to play with the vehicle to shoot weapons when an enemy was spotted (I didn't say I shot them AT the enemy) - and I had great fun at watching my little taxi wander around the waypoints, shooting rockets here and there.

When the tutorial was over and I was on my own, it became a lot less fun. My English Major brain had a great deal of trouble getting my hovercraft to do a simple drag race (the emergency stop before hitting an electric fence was the hard part). The wiring stage was altogether too much programming and logic for my abstract brain, and I got quite frustrated. When I finally conquered the stage, I was quite proud of myself. But when the next stage of a race through hallways (note: you don't have to turn on a drag race) came up, and my vehicle ended up in a corner, repeatedly hitting the wall, I gave up. I was frustrated because it was obviously a game that someone could have a great deal of fun with, but that someone wasn't me.

Multiplayer:

The online community is strong, which encourages fan sites, user-created components, and the trading of vehicles. CogniToy also runs contests - none of the wimpy "Free game and a standard XL T-shirt" to the winner here: the winners of contests win glass trophies. Pretty sweet.

Overall Impression:

If you are a programmer or have a sharp mind for math and logic, this would be right up your alley. All of my programmer friends are interested in it, and I encouraged them to pick it up. The seemingly infinite ways to modify the components and the wiring of your car makes this a game that people will play well into the early morning without noticing the movement of time. Even if you win the scenario by winning the race, destroying the opponent, or picking up the loot, you can always go back and see if you can do it faster, better, more efficiently, or if adding the fireworks to go off right as you win will make it more in-your-face. Speaking of in-your-face, you will also love trading vehicles with your friends and rivals to see who makes the best little tank, hovercraft or wheeled vehicle. You will remind others of parents at Little League baseball games once the game starts, and your little perfect genius is set free to be the best little vehicle out there, with no guidance from you except your constant encouraging yelling.

However, this is not a game for non-programmers. I, personally, got frustrated very quickly into the game. If AND, OR, and IF statements, when not used as conjunctions in the English language, make you shudder in fear, don't get this game. If you struggled through those two college math classes you needed for graduation (liberal arts degree) requirements, stay away. Trust me.

Marketing Efforts Towards Women:

N/A

Sailor Mur, aka Mur Lafferty, has a long history of contributions to the gaming community including writing a column for GameGirlz, working for Red Storm Entertainment, and doing outreach for women through public speaking engagements.