Game Review: Panic Pump – Can You Save Them All?

Platform: Steam
Price: $3 USD
Genre: Action Puzzle
Playtime: 2.5 hrs

Overview:
Panic Pump – Can You Save Them All?  feels like a game that was designed for mobile phones and children. We do not need amazing graphics for every game; however, it becomes hard to recommend when we couple this with its rather strange presentation. Panic Pump – Can You Save Them All? is a puzzle game where you rotate dials and move balls through a series of pipes to complete puzzles before time runs out. This concept is familiar and there were some decent levels and puzzles. However, the execution here is far more complex than it needs to be, leading to a frustrating experience.

Gameplay:
You’re tasked with managing a cube where each side has rotators and pipes. Balls are released in intervals, and you must guide them into the correct rotators to fill all the notches. Think of it as a frantic plate-spinning act, where the slightest misstep causes the whole system to break down. The steep learning curve paired with punishing time limits makes it more of an action-packed frenzy than a thoughtful puzzle game.

Now include the face that’s its presentation is rather childish and strange and we fail to see what actual target audience was being targeted here.

Pros:

• Unique concept that challenges multitasking.
• Genuine effort from the developer to design a game from the ground up

Cons:

• Overly complex mechanics: The learning curve is steep, and the game doesn’t give you much breathing room to figure it out.
• Frustrating time limits: The strict timers turn this into a stressful experience rather than a relaxing puzzle game. A strange choice considering most of its design is geared towards children.
• Mobile app feel: The game feels out of place on Steam, with its simplified controls and low graphical fidelity, clearly designed for touchscreens.
• Poor English translation: The text is often hard to understand, making it seem like it went through a bad machine translation.
• Dated visuals: With low-poly models and textures that look like they belong in a game from a decade ago, the overall presentation leaves much to be desired.
  
  

Verdict:
While it may seem cheap at $3, “Panic Pump – Can You Save Them All?” simply isn’t worth the price. The convoluted gameplay, mobile-like design, and technical shortcomings make it hard to recommend. With so many better free options on Steam, this one is an easy pass.

Rating:
2/10 – A confusing, frustrating experience that belongs on mobile phones, not Steam that also needs a redesign to remove its strange timers.

Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this product from https://www.keymailer.co