TimeWasters highlights many of the excellent Web-based/lightweight downloadable titles that you can dive into within the space of a lunch break. This week, Chris Gampat explores Enough Plumbers.
If you’re a Super Mario Bros. fan, or just like really rad puzzle games involving plumbers and danger, then Enough Plumbers may just be the TimeWaster for you. It combines insanely fun gameplay and really cool music that will keep cubicle slaves addicted for days to come.
The story behind Enough Plumbers is—well, there is none. You simply lead your plumbers to a flag in order to complete the level, while collecting coins and dispatching enemies by jumping on them. There are also bottles that allow your plumber to float upward, springs that let him jump to other areas, and nails that transform your plumber into a heavier version of himself. Call him Iron Plumber, if you will.
When players collect coins, they get a clone of themselves. The clones help the player to accomplish certain goals, such as killing enemies, pressing buttons, or accessing certain areas.
The game controls are simple: up allows players to jump, and left and right lets the player move in the appropriate direction. Enough Plumbers requires a little bit of thinking and observation to figure out how to get through the levels, but it shouldn’t rack your brain too badly. Certain parts of the game will require precise movement and timing: a good example of this is where players need to navigate a maze of fireballs in order to get to coins and ultimately the flag at the end of the level. Because of this, the game can be very frustrating at times.
While the graphics are better than 8-bit, they still are fairly standard for a flash game. In no way is that a bad thing—especially as the main emphasis for this game is on gameplay. For what it’s worth, the graphics won’t bother players and it will seem as though the game is just a reskinned version of Super Mario Bros .
The sound effects are pretty funny and typical of old-school video games. On top of all this, the music is pretty kickin’. It sounds like something you’d hear at a chiptunes concert, but it lacks the psychedelic vibe.
All in all, Enough Plumbers is a tribute to old-school video games, but still does retain its individuality by making it a side-scroller, adding more puzzles, and giving the game no real point or story line other than just to accomplish the tasks at hand. Multiplayer features would be nice–if the game got its own version of Luigi, players could help one another solve puzzles. I recommend that players try Enough Plumbers at least once, but be prepared to be frustrated.
