Fumbo – Flip, Turn and Tumble in the Jungle – An Xbox 360 Live Indie Game Review

Developer: PhudgBoy
Genre: Puzzle & Trivia
Countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States
Languages: English
Price: 80 Points
Developer Summary:

Fumbo is an African themed puzzle game designed to be casual yet mentally challenging. Fumbo does away with the overused bubble bursting, board clearing, time limited scenarios of the puzzle genre and replaces it with a puzzle that is challenging but allows the player to solve it at a comfortable, relaxed pace.

What We Think:

Hanging in the Serengeti, grooving to a catchy jungle rhythm and circling over multiple animal halves; it sounds like vulture Valhalla, but in fact, it’s Fumbo, a laid-back, yet highly-enjoyable puzzle game. To solve the puzzle, you must rotate and move pieces each of which contains four animal halves each until you can match them all up and complete the picture.

Gonna Take Some Time To Do the Things We Never Have:

There is no time limit, so there’s no need to rush, and that’s a good thing! Even the most basic puzzle size will keep you flipping pieces for a good while, and I found even the second difficulty level to be daunting. Feel like sneaking a peek at how the finished game should look? Hit the cheat button, and lock the image that appears in your mind. The game will go back to where you were after a few seconds. There’s no harm in it…save for the air raid sirens that blare for the duration of the reveal, making sure that anyone else in the room now knows full well that you are a filthy cheater.

The Circular Soundtrack of Life.

There’s only one song to be heard looping throughout the game, but it’s a catchy one, with a soothing rhythm. Though fitting and well orchestrated, some musical variety would have a nice way to break up the thorny task at hand.

So set your difficulty, and move things about until no one animal is missing his legs. The clock and the number of moves you make tick up, not down, so your only competition is your previous best performance. Simple, but polished, and like a giant jigsaw puzzle on a lazy Sunday, you might just find yourself drawn back to take another relaxing turn with Fumbo.

Rating: