Have you ever heard of a game where you play as a plumber and must run and jump through 2D worlds?  Yeah, you MIGHT have.  But what about one where you play as a plumber in a 2D world and ACTUALLY do plumbing?  Yeah, maybe not.  Well now there is a game like that with Plungeez!  A mysterious manhole has appeared in the city and a plumber has fallen in.  Help her escape and solve the mystery of the manhole in this 2D puzzle platformer with light “Metroidvania” elements.  It’s available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on PS4 here.

At first all you can do is run and jump.  But as you explore the sewers, you’ll come across plumbing tools and other gadgets and items to help you traverse the mazes.  A plunger can be used to help you wall jump, and the more you find, the more consecutive jumps you can do.  A wrench can fix a leaky pipe so water can go through.  A diving suit will help you swim, and a bottle can hold a flame so you can activate a pilot light. And when you find a time clock, punch in so you can save your progress.

Most of the game’s puzzles have you do some kind of plumbing related activity, like fixing leaky pipes, raising and lowering the water level, filtering out gunk, and firing up pilot lights so you can power a door to open it.  Kind of reminds me of the puzzles you solve in Zelda water temple dungeons, for better or worse.  And in real life I also work in the plumbing section at a major hardware store, and sometimes fixing plumbing problems is like solving a puzzle, and this game captures the feel of that.

The game has light “Metroidvania” elements where you can backtrack with new skills to find hidden treasures and other goodies.  But the map isn’t very helpful and just adds confusion to an already brain busting game.  I think it would’ve been better with just self contained puzzle rooms.  I liked the retro graphics, puzzles, and how the game fully commits to the plumbing bit.  But the maze aspects do bog it down a little bit and caused me to slightly lose interest after a while.

Kid Factor:

You don’t really attack enemies or take damage in this game, so there’s not any violence I could see.  The only remotely scary thing are the skeletons that hold the plungers you find, but the pixel graphics negate any realism.  But because of the reading skill needed and high level of difficulty in the puzzles, I’d say this one is best for older kids.  Plungeez is rated E for Everyone.

Tags: Game Reviews