Trash Panic (PSN)

[Sly Reflex]

I've had a good few hours with this now, and as promised when bought it, I am posting impressions. It's a long post, but it's quite a complicated game.

For anyone who has not played the demo or even heard about it, the game is an action puzzler where the aim of the game is to cram a set amount of litter (measured in Litres down in the bottom right hand corner). As always with this type of game, it's not always as easy as it sounds. Litter comes in a variation of shapes and sizes, and can be broken down into smaller bits to make space in the bin. Items vary in hardness, something can be smashes easily, while other are incredibly difficult to break. You can use this to your advantage by using harder items as places to smash items that take a bit of breaking, for example, smashing a barrel over a postbox. There is a hold item space that can be used for holding useful items, or for big items that you can not deal with at that moment. More on that later. The game ends when 3 undamaged pieces off litter spill out of the top of the bin.

There are special items in the game that will help you get the can as empty as possible. The first one you encounter in the full game is fire. Fire can be used to set flammable things on fire, which if you use clever enough can be used to cause big fire chains and keep the fire burning long after the original fire source burnt out. Putting the lid on the bin while there is a fire source inside makes the temperature in bin rise, which sets fire to more stuff. However, the bigger the fire is, the faster the oxygen will deplete. If the oxygen depletes fully, the fire dies out and stuff stops burning, so it is wise to managed the air getting to the fire. Items glow with heat, and it is possible to get some items really hot and set fire to neighbouring rubbish that have a high flash point. Explosives can be used to clear big sections using fire. Some items spill oil when broken, which can be used to set fire to pretty much everything it touches.

The next item is eco-balls which when submerged in water start to decay items from the play area. It only works when it is submerged in water, so you need to break items containing water to keep them going. There is no way of sustaining eco-ball decay like there is a fire. It is also a balancing act with the eco-ball, as you need to be constantly feed it with a water source. In the game, oil floats on top of the water, if the oil touches the eco-ball it stops working. Likewise, a fire can not burn underwater, so you have to either deal with one of the other.

The other items are something I forget the name of, but are basically treasures that shouldn't be thrown away. If you smash these object, you are penalised by having some litter dropped on you. The way to deal with these is to drop them gently in the can where the little guy at the bottom can reach it, it is then taken away and you a rewarded by having an item put in the hold that is either good for damaging other things or is tiny so that it can be put into the can without much space been taken up. It replaces any item you have in the hold at that moment, so it is useful to stow away a large item there if you know you are going to get a bonus when the treasure is plucked out of the shite.

The last item is the boss item. Quite frankly it's a pain in the arse. You have 10 seconds to break this item, otherwise you are liable for another bunch of punishment litter, which basically ends the game because there is so much of it. You really need to be quick with these items, I normally set a fire before I drop one in and then batter the fuck out of it with every item I get after that.

The end of a level happens once you have managed to pack every last piece of litter into the can, which happens about 20 or so items after the boss. After that has ended, you are greeted with a screen that measures how well you did with either going down the good route of biodegradable items, or setting fire and causing pollution. This doesn't effect your final rank though, I have had quite a few A's just by been a right little firestarter.

The difficulty is hard, and sometimes a little unfair. Shaking the pad is meant to level out any stuck litter, but sometimes it doesn't work and items a left floating up with nothing holding them up, which can be really annoying if you are doing well. Some items seem to break really randomly too, for instance, an upturned light bulb should bust right away, but occasionally it will bounce and not break, which can cause a few wtf moments. There is a few occasions where a really strong item falls awkwardly and makes life hard, but that can be avoided mostly as long as you play sensible.

Overall it's a pretty good game marred by a few physics problems. I just want to note that it weighs in at over a GB in size, which is quite odd as stuff like BF:'43 are like half the size. Still, I wouldn't let that put you off, it's still a decent game that can waste a bit of time. The difficulty isnt as bad as I thought it would be, I am managing to get quite far now without much problems, it is definitely a game where after playing you learn what items to drop and which to smash.

Now, lets watch this thread die a death.

[HandsomeDead]

Bloody hell, Sly. Sounds complicated but I keep meaning to try the demo, probably will do that soonish, it's just that there are sooo many puzzlers out there on these download services that it can be a slog to try some of them.

[Sly Reflex]

I did't bother covering the other modes either. It sounds really complicated, but ones you know what items do what, it gets easier. Cultivating fires is great, once you get the whole can ablaze you can just throw everything in and not worry about it. The demo isn't a great reprisentation as it is limited on time, they should have just give you a level, as you can take it as slow as the rubbish drops then, and take time working things out. 3 minutes really isn't enough.