There had to be something terribly wrong with the water pipes back in the 80’s, right? I mean, who came up with the idea, to let a plumber be the main character and superhero of a whole video game franchise? And this isn’t even the end of the pipe: In 1989, Akila Redmer and Stephen L. Butler invented a whole new subgenre of puzzle games, based on their game “Pipe Mania“, in which you have to rearrange lengths of pipe in order to let the wastewater flow. Or the goo. Or the whatever-liquid.

In “Slidecore” by “Pillar of Polygons”, you do exactly the same. But this time, it’s a bitstream, not a fecal stream.

2 1/2 ways to hack the data core.

Is this the way to Datarillo?

More than a Pipe Dream

There are three things I love about “Slidecore”. First of all, it’s the evergreen game principle of “Pipe Mania”, that never gets old or boring. It’s like playing Frogger, Tetris or Snake. We’ve played it 20 years ago, we like to play it now and we will play it in the future, too.

Secondly, I adore the whole grid-based, neon-like, Tronesque look and feel of the game. It certainly underpins the hacker theme and works fantastic with the futuristic soundtrack (that could be a bit more diverse, but it’s good enough to be mentioned on the pro side).

This is how I feel playing Slidecore.

Last but not least, I think the scope is quite big for a free casual game like this. You can solve a new, extensive riddle every day and there are two additional game modes you can choose from. Plus, it is available in 9 different languages and the German version is actually pretty good.

Blocked up Pipes

Just a few minor things to mention here, that should be cleared away immediately, so that the gameplay keeps flowing: First of all, does the tutorial really have to last almost as long as a daily routine game? Come on, we get it! Every one of us has played a similar game at least once, so there’s no reason to make things more complicated as they are.

Speaking of the tutorial, what’s the deal with the tiny text displayed in bold letters with a round-edged font? For the next upgrade, I’d wish for a text, that is made for human eyes.

And yeah, maybe the developers should add a bit more variety to the soundtrack. It does add the right vibes to the game, but if there’s a chance to get more, why not asking for it?

The Verdict

“Slidecore” is a futuristic adaptation of “Pipe Mania”, that does almost everything right. Be a hackerman today and download the game here!

All pictures are in-game screenshots. The meme has been taken from knowyourmeme.com, the reaction gif source is imgur.