How and Where

By: Guest Reviewer

On: March 11th, 2009

This is a guest review by Andreas Kämper.

I’d like to present two charming little games done by Mike Inel, called “How” and “Where”. I’d also like to thank KnightBlargh from the forums at this point for pointing us out to the games.

“How” is a charming little game in which you control a girl who has to put as many balls into a well as possible in five minutes. Carrying balls around uses up Stamina, while consuming the balls restores Stamina, but slowly kills the girl. While that sounds pretty bland and straightforward as a game, it’s the execution that makes this game so special. The graphics are hand-drawn and smoothly animated, creating a unique atmosphere without even using so much as sound effects or music. You just have to feel sorry for the girl when it clumsily drops to the ground of exhaustion or simply drops dead after eating too much of the spheres.

“Where” on the other hand is a 3D first person maze game. You start the game walking towards a ball of light, until a maze starts forming around you that you can then explore. If you reach the edges of the maze, you can change its layout and style, resulting in a change of color as well as music. While there is nothing much to see in the maze, save for its four different styles, the game, just as “How”, creates a unique and relaxing atmosphere. According to Mike Inel, the game has been remade once already, but was neither completely finished when it was original made, nor when he remade it.

Neither of these games offers long-lasting fun or much replayability (except for breaking the Highscore in “How” maybe) but they still should be played by anyone valuing an unique experience or taking an interest in “art games”. Some people may also be offended by the skimpiness of the girl in “How” a bit, so better skip on it if you’re that type of person.