Love to construct and solve puzzles at the same time? Then have I got a game for you. Aqueducts is the name and it will keep you entertained for hours on end. The challenge is to place yourself back in ancient times, when the engineering feats of the mighty Romans reigned and sourced live-giving waters to many.
The game starts simple and is not hard to catch on. When you first download the app, you will b taken straight to a puzzle. It will show a waterway that has not been completed. There will be multiple pieces of aqueduct scattered in such a way that when you tap on one, it will rotate one way or the other. You need to keep tapping until it connects to the aqueduct piece just before it, so that the water can flow.
There is no swiping of any kind. Simply taps. The first level has just one game. Once you complete that, the app shows you the map of the levels. Tap on the next one to play. You essentially will be building a full system that weaves its way through a mountain range and into valley that surround it.
On the bottom of the map screen, there will also be icons for syncing with the Cloud, sound settings and leaving a comment on the App Store.
So, one word of caution, because I fumbled through this when I started Level 2. The pieces of aqueduct only rotate clockwise, so choose wisely when you tap on one. You want to make sure those pieces will be available to connect to the piece that is upstream. You also only have so many moves per game; choose wisely.
As I was making my choices to rotate and connect the duct pieces, I realized I needed to slow down and think about what would happen, before I let it happen. This game provides a skillfully designed exercise in forward thinking strategic planning. I found myself messing up quite a bit, until I learned to slow down and let my moves be the limiting factor, not time. My advice to you is to take it easy and make your move.
The only thing that I would say is lacking is the inability to undo a move. You can redo a game, but you can’t undo any rotations, which would be nice.
Other than that, Aqueducts is genuinely entertaining and thought provoking. I have not come across something like this before and it provides a more stimulating way to keep minds entertained.