Icebreaker: A Puzzle Game

Icebreaker is a flash animation puzzle game produced by Newgrounds.com collaboration organizer Heather Stancliffe (NitromeHeather). Additional audio for the game was done by Lee Nicklen. This puzzle game was submitted to Newgrounds.com on December 17, 2009 and won a Daily 4rd Place award on December 18, 2009.

Game Background

A few of your viking friends have gotten themselves frozen in ice. With help from your non-frozen viking friends and a hardy ship, free your frozen viking friends from their icy prisons.

Gameplay

Icebreaker is a puzzle game that involves slicing through ice to free some frozen vikings. Simply click and drag to make a cut into the ice. Any pieces of ice that fall on the ship below will be smashed by the non-frozen vikings that are on the ship. Using some strategy, cut the ice around the frozen vikings in such a way that they will fall on the ship. This may involve more than one cut, or you may have to make a path for the frozen vikings to slide down in order to reach the ship. Analyze the layout of each level before making your cuts to ensure you get all of your frozen viking friends to safety on the ship and freed from the ice.

If a piece is too large for the non-frozen vikings on the ship to break down, then you will have to cut the ice pieces into smaller pieces for the non-frozen vikings on the ship to smash and break down.

At the top-left of the screen, you can view a mini-map of the level. On this map, you will see yellowish dots. These yellowish dots indicate the locations of the vikings that need to be saved. Move around the map by moving your mouse to the edges of the screen until an arrow appears that will move the screen in the direction that the arrow is pointing.

At the top-right of the screen, you will see four different buttons that are used mainly to change the settings of the game. The first button will allow you to restart the current level if you feel like you need to start over again due to some tactical error. You can also pause the game using the next button. The next two buttons will toggle the music and sound effects, respectively.

At the bottom-left of the screen, you can see how many cuts you had to make, or have made, in order to rescue all of the vikings that you need to rescue. At the bottom-right, you can see the number of vikings that you need to save in order to advance to the next level.

There are 40 different levels that you can play. Unlock a level by completing the level before it.

Game Review

Icebreaker is an interesting puzzle game that offers a good amount of entertainment value. With 40 different levels, this game can keep players playing for a good while. However, there isn't much replay value, and the levels can become quite repetitive.

Icebreaker scores a 7/10 for its creative game concept. A little more variation between levels, as well as different music tracks, would help this game out.