Lacking in puzzling and fun
Something of a departure for Apogee, best known for their arcade and action games like Wolfenstein and Commander Keen and Duke Nukem, this is (unsurprisingly, given the title) a collection of four diverse little puzzle that suggest the company should have stuck to what they know best. The first game on offer here is Block Five, a computerised recreation of the classic board game Go, where you must compete against a computer opponent to complete lines of your own pieces. It's a decent enough replica and has the same kind of appeal as chess. The second game is Asteroids Rescue, a sort of mix of Asteroids and Defender, where you must rescue survivors of a space accident from a meteor storm. It's a simple enough actioner, which is lacking in puzzle elements, but which is briefly enjoyable enough. Phrase Master is a sort of two player take on Wheel of Fortune where players must take it in turns to guess random words and phrases but unfortunately this is probably the weakest game in the package and its appeal dries up rather quickly. Maze Machine is the final offering and as you might expect is a maze-based experience which is likewise straightforward but which provides probably the most enjoyable game here. None of the four games here are exactly spectacular and if you don't bother with this, you're really not missing out on much. There's little in the way of puzzling or fun on offer here, with crude graphics and minimalist sound and gameplay that is lacking in depth or variety so really this one is only for dedicated collectors who have too much time on their hands.
