Pipe Mania

Pipe Mania is an ancient game from 2008. It's a whopping 16 years old at the time of this review. The game lacks support for the typical features of modern gaming PCs, hasn't been modernised or updated to run smoothly on contemporary machines. The game looks and feels dated. Despite this lack of modernisation, it carries a pretty high price tag for such an old game. This seems to have be lingering on Steam with an inflated price to try profit from abandonware. This is a re-hash of 1989's Amiga game, Pipe Dream/Pipe Mania, but it's not copyright infringement, it looks like Empire Interactive are a valid copyright holder for it, so that's something. That doesn't mean this is a great game... Pipe Dream has been rehashed so many times (heck, it's the hacking minigame in Bioshock), and this teenaged rehash isn't a winner. You get some different skins/game modes etc but is that really what was needed to make a smash hit out of something that would today be more fitting as a Flash game? Nope. And I'm never going to tell gamers on Steam to spend money on glorified Flash games. From a technical perspective, the game doesn't meet basic minimum requirements that most PC gamers expe…

Pipemania is a modern release of a classic puzzle concept, developed by Razorworks and published by Strategy First, that brings the timeless pipe-laying formula to Steam with expanded content and updated presentation. Rooted in one of the most recognizable arcade puzzle designs of the late 20th century, the game revolves around constructing functional pipelines under pressure. While its premise is simple—connect pipes before a flowing substance overruns your incomplete network—the escalating speed and spatial constraints transform that simplicity into a demanding test of reflexes and foresight. At the heart of the experience lies a constantly advancing liquid often referred to as “flooze,” which begins flowing from a source point after a short preparation period. Players are given a rotating queue of pipe segments and must place them strategically across a grid to create a continuous path. Once the liquid begins moving, every placement becomes critical. A misplaced piece or a gap in the pipeline results in failure. The tension builds as the flooze accelerates, forcing players to think ahead while reacting quickly to the next available pipe segment. The gameplay thrives on spatial…

The game is very fun and addictive to play, as it is basically a Tetris hybrid. Unlike many of the games 'inspired' by the great Tetris, however, Pipemania actually delivers fun and addicting gameplay.

Kojima wishes he could have made the first "Pipe type game"

I loved original Pipemania on DOS and this version on PSP.

My Childhood