Challenging your understanding of volume and area, “Flat Pack” is an unique puzzle platformer that explores 2-D gaming on the sides of boxes. It gets you to defy gravity, dodge from deathly traps, and attain victory after completing each level. This is an enjoyable game that is waiting for the approval of your fingertips.

Nitrome, an outstanding indie video game company developed and published this game for Android and IOS devices. They are known for their speciality in 2-D platformers in games like “Platform Panic” and “Leap Day.” Nitrome consistently wins gaming awards, and “Flat Pack,” released last year, is sure to receive accolades as well.

You play as a quirky, bandana-wearing, propeller-armed character that seems to be stuck in the faces of many cubes and prisms. You acquire the ability to move the character on flat platforms through swipes, and hop upwards with taps. These controls tend not to be the greatest, since you have to switch from one action to another – but you can still maneuver around the world efficiently. The main objective of the game is to collect six golden cube pieces. Once collected, they open a portal that advances you to the next level. These pieces are scattered across each level, usually surrounded by an obstacle that you have to solve in order to continue the game. Each level secretes a star, and if all stars are collected, you get a ticket to a secret ending!

So far the game sounds simple, right? Collect all the pieces, complete the level, and you get to move on with your life. But what fun is a game without a challenge? “Flat Pack” offers fairly difficult obstacles and a huge array of traps and casualties to challenge you – from stomping enemies blocking your path to meat-slicing razors that will cut you to pieces in just seconds. The design of the 3-D aspect of the game also does a number on the simplicity of the game. For example, the Death Pyramid level has rows of cubes formed into a pyramid, each row consisting of a fast, punishing block that can reach you more quickly as you ascend. Even if you die a couple of times in a level, the game saves the amount of pieces you collected, so you won’t find the game annoying. By moving through faces in a rotating direction, you have the ability to shift gravity and access parts of the level you could not touch before. This feature really improves the puzzles. The puzzle portion of the game is quite excellent and each level and challenge is unique.

Another great feature of “Flat Pack” is its AR (augmented reality) mode, currently only available for IOS. The controls and the basic game are the same, but the source of the camera has changed. When you play the game in AR mode, your phone controls the view of the level. This is an interesting experience since you’re playing a 2-D game over the surface area of a 3-D object. In order to operate AR mode at its full potential, you must get out of your comfortable seat and play standing up. It feels like you have the game physically in your room – like you can touch it with your bare hands, but it is only an illusion. This is a great feature for Apple’s new ARKit, which is exclusively for Apple devices.

The visuals are cute and creative, especially the enemies. They have adorable little hats on their heads which make what you want to run up and snuggle them. However once you realize that they are here to end your existence, you regret hugging the cute creatures. The characters and platforms are pixelated, which does not necessarily mean it has bad graphics. The characters are not very detailed which works with pixel art. The background of the game has a mysterious vibe with a palette similar to Space. The animation is quite appealing with its smooth frame rate and interesting character art. The player animation has flexible transitions, especially during the deaths. When the characters or enemies die, they transform from 2-D to 3-D, fly out of the cube, and fall to their peril. The music gives the game a jazzy feel, and a steady beat matches the pace of the game. The music is somewhat nostalgic, especially during the player’s death; the music slows down, giving a quick death tone beat, and ends with an eerie, electronic pulse.

“Flat Pack” offers diversity and a great number of challenges in its levels, giving the player lots to explore. You can easily download the game on your Apple or Android device; it has some ads, but it’s worth it! Nitrome really outdid itself with this game. “Flat Pack” may have some flaws, but is an excellent puzzle game that grants satisfying gameplay, from all edges and sides.