Surprised to find just one level in the whole of Heron: Steam Machine, I went looking through the menu to find something else to do. Other than a similar multiplayer version of that stage, there was nothing more I could find. Is 500 points too expensive for what may as well be an online flash game?
In Heron: Steam Machine you must relieve a machine of pressure through the linking of water pipes. You rotate blocks of pipe to find a suitable path through the always full grid, to link a source from one side of the screen to the corresponding coloured pipe on the other. The gameplay is simple, but thanks to its simplicity, very easy to grasp the ins and outs of which techniques work and which will only result in the machine overheating.
That said, the screen you perform these actions on is full of clutter that the game never explains. The game looks decent for a cheap WiiWare title, but there is so much going on around the play field that are supposedly helping you that it can be difficult to know whether you’re succeeding or failing. In fact the object of the game is never explained outside the operations manual, with no numerical value as to how successful you are being at keeping the machine from exploding. This can be frustrating, forcing you to make a guess as to when the game will be over, adding a false feeling of tension.
Other than two control schemes to choose from, wonky motion control or NES style, and some overly confusing multiplayer, there really isn’t anything else to Heron: Steam Machine. For 500 points, the same price as games like Super Mario Bros 3 and the original Metroid, the value proposition is surprisingly low. That said, I did enjoy my time with Heron: Steam Machine, the simple gameplay achieving a nice balance between luck and skill. It works just as well as a flash game though, which is a tad disappointing.
Rating: 
Leave a Reply