Stack 'em - Genetic engineering at its best.

It's been a long, long day patrolling Area 52. Then you get the dreaded call. The only farmer left in the area (and the only one who has a cloning machine) is having "issues" with his animals again. With a sigh you turn down several dusty roads until you come to the farm famous for its "cube meat."

Farmer Fred meets you at the gate and flaps his foot impatiently as you get out of the car.

"It's about time you got here!" he yells. "Those blasted animals won't play by the rules!"

This announcement sparks a dozen questions in your head. You ask the main question first.

"What rules, sir?"

With strong thwack against a signpost, Farmer Fred says, "These rules!!"

This oh-so-helpful sign sparks even more questions from you. "Save the farm? What's wrong with your farm? How is matching animals going to help? And what will you have to start over?"

Fred thwacks the sign again. "None of that don't matter. The tourists is supposed to help *me*! But the animals got a different idea in mind. Jus talk to 'em." Without waiting for a reply, Fred heads to the barn. As he walks his feet flap loudly and you realize that his shoes are thin as pancakes. Being near Area 52 causes lots of problems, but flat feet is a new one, even for Fred.

"Fred? Uh...."

Without looking back Fred says, "Dropped a stack of cows on 'em. Those buggers may be small, but they're HEAVY."

O_O

The barn is in an uproar. Feathers, fur, and wool are everywhere. "Ya see?" Fred demands, pointing at the chaos. "They won't play right!"

One of the chickens overhears and clucks out, "Bwaat? You're the buc-buc-bucawcheat!" She tugs a piece of paper out from under her wing and tosses it to you. "Here! This is whaat we agreed to!"

A sunny day in May, a group of adventurous furry farm animals found a funny hole in the farm's fence. They got so excited and soon decided to take a chance and jump through the hole for an adventurous day in the free.

Help the animals on their farm escape day by matching them in groups so they disappear- Houdini style. If too many of them fall over the fence, the farmer may notice and lock them up.

"Who.... who wrote this?"

An intelligent looking (albeit cubic) sheep clops over. "You see, good sir, Farmer Fred has had overwhelming success with our cloning. Too good, in fact. In order to continue farm life in some order we all," he nods to the animals and Farmer Fred, "agreed to let a third party intervene."

"That's right," Fred grunted. "We called Pogo for help."

The sheep speaks up again. "If we follow the rules the farm will be saved. But tourists are supposed to help US, not the farmer!"

"No they're not! They're suppose to help me!"

Smelling trouble, you quickly interrupt. "Are there more rules?"

"Of course!" says the sheep as he nudges a thin book toward you. "Here's the rest of what we got."

"So... both of your rule books are the same after the first page?"

Man and sheep nod yes.

"And the only difference is who the tourist *thinks* zie is helping? The outcome is still the same?"

Man and sheep slowly (and sheepishly) nod yes again.

"What's the problem then?"

Farmer Fred frowns and flaps his foot. "It jus ain't right! Helpin' animals escape?"

All of the animals turn toward him. With a flurry of tiny feathers, the chicken clucks, "We're cuh-cuh-CUBES!!!"

And that was the end of that. Farmer Fred decided to let the animals *think* that they were escaping. Turned out that they reappeared at a.... well, you can decide for yourself.

When I visited the farm I tried the game too. And I found there were more details not contained in that little rulebook. In case you ever want to go back, here's what I learned. ^_^

First off, you can stack the animals level with the fence. But they can't go OVER the fence. It warps the space-time continuum or something.

Second, this is NOT a timed game!!! The dial to the left tells you how many moves you can make before a new row of cloned animals spits out at the bottom.

• Green = 4 moves
• Yellow = 3 moves
• Orange = 2 moves
• Red = 1 move

It *seems* that if you make a chain reaction you can get an extra move. But it didn't always seem to work. Test it and let me know what you find!

Just remember that there is NO rush. Take your time. And if you don't like what you just did, flip the UNDO switch that's just below the dial. (Warning: UNDO will not work if you just went up a level or completed the game.)

I also found that sometimes one of the animals.... would change. (Farmer Fred said it was a result of over-cloning.) Sometimes they became a bomb.

If I matched the bomb with other animals before the next wave of clones arrived, there would be a big explosion and a bunch of the animals went to... a happy place. ^_~

I saw bombs a lot, but couldn't always use them. That was annoying. My FAVORITE was when an animal became a popsicle.

Popsicles are VERY rare, but if you match them with other animals of their kind, they freeze the dial up! I could make five more moves before the next wave of clones arrived!

The five extra moves was niiiiiiiiiice. ^_^ I suggested to Fred that he start air conditioning the yard, and he looked at me like I was an idiot.

Don't you look at me that way too! He has a cloning machine and makes animal cubes, for cryin' out loud!

This game has 6 levels. Once you get to level 2 you get a ball with a star in it. On level 3 you get a 2nd ball, and so on until lvl 6. If you manage to stay alive that long and match the balls up, you win!!!

Farmer Fred has this Jackpot Wheel thingie too. If you finish the game you get a spin! So far all I've gotten are Pogo Tokens, but he says you can win up to $4,999!! It all depends on how long it was since the *last* person won the cash prize.

Final Rating:
Overall I'd rate this game a 3.5 out of 5. The story around it is weird, but the game itself is well made. Since it isn't timed it's really more of a puzzle game than anything else. Good for when you want to focus on something but not stress out.

However, I found myself getting a little bored. I played all three difficulty levels several times over, but it just didn't challenge me enough.