Olaf & Elmar in the Castles of Nabokos is a puzzle game for Windows about pushing blocks, similar to the famous game sokoban, but with a twist. Here you have two characters, the elephant Olaf, who can push large blocks, and the mouse Elmar, who can only push small blocks, they must both work together to clear each castle. The point of the game is to solve each level using as few steps as possible, so you have unlimited undo, unlimited time and separate high scores for each castle.
Reviewer: Sjojo I played Olaf and Elmar in the Castles of Nabakos. It was a very simply designed game, with clear and uncomplicated graphics. It has a nice twist on the usual block pushing game, in that you have two options of block pushers. The elephant can push large and small blocks, but he is twice the size of the mouse- who can only push small blocks. The advantage is that the elephant can push several large wooden blocks at once, but not the stone blocks. The mouse is smaller, quicker to use, but can only push small blocks. The games starts off nice and easy to get you in the drift of it before ramping up the difficulty, this also helps to sucker you in, and make you determined to reach the end of the game. The game saves you levels for you also, this means that you do not have to enter code levels as the game progresses if you wish to resume the game at a later stage.
The music is really annoying and I was quite please to find that it can be turned off, the rounds of applause at the end of each level is also a touch superfluous, I know I’ve completed the level, I don’t need fake applause to make me feel good.
The show solution option is a little bit of a cop out, but I guess it’s good to include the option, problem is, that now I know it’s there, I’ll probably abuse it- just as well they only give you 3. The other thing I was not keen on, is that once the key pops up, the stones lock down, I guess this just means you have to keep it in mind when you are pushing the blocks around- into final positions. The diamonds are something different, and add a little extra dimension to the game, especially if you want to be able to save the game- and saving the game is part of the purpose really.
I like the fact that you can chose between mouse and arrow keys to play the game with. Personally I don’t like using the mouse for this type of game, but it is good to have the option there for those that do.
All in all, I actually quite liked the set up of this game, it’s got a really thin story line, however the game play is simple and the graphics are clear and uncomplicated, it’s a nice fresh approach to an old game.
