Wuchtel’s Magic Wand 6.2Mb
This is a German game, but it’s very easy to pick up gameplay and to start to play. It has similarities to Pingus and Castle of Elite, except unlike the latter you can re-create blocks after destroying them, which gives a different dimension to the gameplay.
You build blocks directly/in front of you and much of the gameplay is about block-building, and occasionally removing blocks. You use ‘arrow’ keys to move and ‘left/right-control’ (Ctrl) key to build/remove blocks. You can also remove blocks by jumping up repeatedly underneath them. Wuchtel's positioning affects block placement and can result in blocks being created a square in advance, rather than directly in front, either of which can be very useful! There are save points which autosave the game when you reach them. You can only build upwards, however Wuchtel floats down rather than falls, so any fall won't harm Wuchtel. You can block off some enemies, while others will destroy the blocks you have placed. There are many enemies to avoid as you progress through the levels.
Wuchtel is off to defeat the bad guys in the stone castle and hence save the village! You Wuchtel, are the cute red round guy with squat legs!
Installing the game is easy. Weiter> = Next and Installieren = Install.
Initially, the game boots to a selection screen for full-screen (left choice) and windowed mode play (right choice).
The main menu needs explaining. Click the mouse to stop/go on from the German voiced-over Intro. You might not see a mouse pointer in full screen mode on the menu but moving the mouse around will highlight the choices. Left choice = New game and Second choice in = Load game. You then proceed to a level select screen. Walk Wuchtel to the right with the arrow key to the red X symbol and press’ Enter’. On the first level you obtain the magic wand! On completing a level by going through the door, you are yet again at the level select screen, so once more walk Wuchtel to the next red X symbol and press ‘Enter’ over again to start the new level. There are 36 levels for you to solve.
The game is very polished and has great, in fact, excellent graphics, with some nice music and sound effects. It starts off fairly leisurely, but gains pace, with more enemies and more complex tasks to collect the coins, gems, health potions and keys needed, while avoiding collecting poisons. It increases in difficulty rapidly enough and save points are fairly infrequent and have to be earned. If enemies touch you several times, it’s goodbye to Wuchtel as your health bar will have gone down to zero, and you’ll have to restart/ load a saved game! Sometimes, or sometimes when you make a block disappear, there’ll be a question mark symbol. Touch this, and elsewhere on the screen a save block or other bonus will appear. Reach a save block and the game will be saved at that point. On later screens, it might not be immediately apparent how to collect the key and then get to the level exit! And there are plenty of magical bonuses including money bags and treasure chests, scattered along the path!
Please not to remind me by the way that the literal translation of the German title Wuchtel mit der Zauberfuchtel is ‘Wuchtel with the Magic Thumb’ - I know! ; literal and ‘reasonable’ German translations often differ!
I especially like this game and it’s a game I go back to over and again - and again!