Confuzion is certainly aptly named -- combining strategy, reflex, dexterity, speed and foresight, it will leave most people in a quivering mess.

Frustration and huge addiction are the order of the day in this fast arcade style game. Based around the arcade game Guttang Guttong, Confuzion gives you the task of destroying a factory full of bombs. Although it is hard to describe adequately in words, the principle is quite simple. You are put in control of moving plates on the factory floor, the idea is very similar to the old plastic 'slide puzzles' where you are given a load of mixed-up squares with one free square on a grid and you have to slide them about to make a designated pattern.

With Confuzion these squares have tracks on them and you have to use these to make a path to guide your moving spark (fuze -- hence Confuzion) to the bombs which reside on the sides of the screen. Making a correct route on the screen is far from easy, the myriad of squares and their patterns really make the going tough.

On the first level the playing area is quite small and the time limit to defuse the single bomb is lengthy. On higher levels the time limit is much shorter and the number of bombs to defuse increase. Also, drops of water start to move randomly around the playing area. These are fatal to the touch, putting out your spark and they make the game even more difficult.

There are 64 levels and you're allowed to enter on the first, ninth, seventeenth, twenty-fifth, thirty-third, or forty-first levels. You start with five sparks but gain an extra one for every fourth level completed. The graphics are very colourful and the plates move about swiftly and smoothly. The spark is well defined and moves around at a horrible speed, fast enough to send itself down the wrong track if you make the slightest mistake, but slow enough to make the time limit seem all too short! If you do have a clear route to a bomb you can speed the spark up by pressing fire or the space bar.

The sound is good during the game and the title screen contains a really classy three channel tune which goes on for a good four minutes, brilliant stuff too!

A word of warning: those of you who buy this program are likely to suffer from a nervous breakdown. A very, very frustrating and addictive game is this one. The trouble is that you can see what you're supposed to do and how you can do it, the problem is just trying to get your brain and fingers do the work fast enough! The music on the title screen is excellent and the graphics are really colourful. I liked it a lot and although frustration is high, the 64th level promises a colourful and rewarding finish.
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Htmlized by Dimitris Kiminas (7 May 2002)

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