The mere mention of a puzzle game usually has arcade freaks turning to the next page. If there are no aliens to blast or end-of-level guardians to wipe out and no death, and destruction to deliver, they just aren't interested.
All that could be about to change with the release of Logical from Rainbow Arts, the team who brought you Curse of Ra - remember?

This new game requires a combination of fast reactions and a little brain power and should appeal to just about everyone, even little Jonnhy next door who's obsessed with playing John Madden American Football on is Mega drive.

The basic concept, as with all the best puzzle games, its very simple and can be picked up in minutes. All you have to do is manoeuvre the marbles through the various receptacles until you have filled each one with four balls of the same colour.

Sounds simple so far doesn't it? Well there's a bit more to it than that. The receptacles are connected by channels all over the screen along which you can pass the marbles. Each one can be rotated through 90 degree angles so that marbles can be collected and despatched through the channels. And just to make things a little more difficult, it is timed.

Still sounds simple? Well that's all there is to the first few levels, but just when you're getting used to it and thinking you're really hot a few elements are thrown in to make you to stop in your tracks.

Little things like colour stoppers that will only allow marbles of a certain colour through and colour changers that will let any marble through but change its hue on the way.
And how about the traffic lights which mean that you have to fill the receptacles in a certain order before you can progress with the game?

If all that isn't enough there are also one-way channels and colour handicaps and forecasts to contend with, but if I told you about everything it wouldn't be any fun would it? There are 99 levels to play through and a password system has been included so that you can avoid all those easy levels you have done before. And believe me, when you get up to the higher levels you will need all of your time to concentrate on those tricky traps instead of messing about with the easy stuff.

When you have completed all 99 levels (some chance!) you receive a password that enables you to enter the level construction kit where you can devise your own devious levels. You can save your creations on disk to amaze and confuse your friends with later.

Logical may have you bashing your mouse in frustration but it will also have you coming back for more - a lot more!

Logical is the kind of game you'd feel comfortable taking home to meet your Mum. It's elegant, while not exactly pretty, sophisticated enough to challenge and yet easy to get on with. There's no violence, no silly stories, just a politely riveting personality. Getting to know Logical well enough to invite it round for tea in the first place is the problem. You see, well, it's a puzzle game.

Wheel meet again
Logical may be the name, but the game only makes sense when you understand it. It essentially is a dexterity/management test that involves ushering different coloured balls around a circuit with the mouse. When four similar coloured balls are gathered together on one of the 'wheel' junctions in the circuit, they disappear. This clears them from play and renders the wheel inactive. When all the wheels on a screen have been deactivated the level is successfully completed.

Each level starts with a single ball entering the circuit and rolling until it falls into an empty slot in the edge of a wheel - containing four slots each. Because these wheels sit at junctions in the circuit, and can be rotated with a quick click on their centre, balls and slots can be rearranged to suit your game plan.

While clicking on any ball, that's sat in a slot which feeds into the circuit sends it rolling along to the next junction.

The random colour of each new ball, the time limit and twisted nature of the network provide the puzzle elements of Logical. Few of the circuits fully connect, so you have to push, pull and shove balls via X, Y and Z just to get from A to B. Joining the conspiracy on later levels are one-way routes, teleports, colour dedicated paths and countless other hazards. And while you concentrate on the bowels of the circuit, more balls are being added all of the time.

Logistics
Colour-based puzzles need clear, simple lay outs and Logical commendably offers four graphic-sets to choose from. Effectively understated, they allow the puzzle to be deciphered at a glance but otherwise rarely register. Similarly, the precision of mouse response is soon taken as fact, while the sound effects and music fade under the glare of concentration.

Logical ties to confuse and confound, slowly upping the pressure as each round progresses. There are more balls, less time and more movement: solutions that appear obvious one moment are instantly forgotten as your attention is diverted by yet another gameplay twist.

Initially a quiet game, Logical steadily makes more demands of both time and effort. Its lack of 'obvious action' could well mean it gets overlooked, which would be a crime. The action's there, it just takes a little effort to recognise it.

Joining the ranks of Tetris, Puzznic, and Block Out, Logical is a puzzle game with balls literally.

The recent stream of puzzlers has been a rather lacklustre bunch, with limited lasting appeal. To an extent the same can be said of Logical, but it does prove rather more addictive than, say, Gem'X or Welltris.

As with all the best puzzlers the basic idea's extremely simple: The screen is made up of a series of tunnels, and connecting these tunnels are a cluster of cogs each of which feature four recesses. At the top of this area, a series of coloured balls are pumped into the play area, and the player must group similarly-coloured balls within each of the wheels, until every wheel has been completed a predetermined number of times.

The game is controlled via the mouse, with the right button turning each of the receptacles and the left button releasing a ball into the nearest channel However, whilst these balls are being juggled to and from the many wheels, a time-limit ticks away, limiting how long a freshly-launched ball can be left unattended.

In terms of presentation and on-screen information, Logical is perfect. The colour of the next ball to be launched is indicated, and the graphics are attractive without being cluttered. The main problem with the game, though, is that the whole process just gets so dull. There's very little variation within its 99 stages, and repeating the same process, no matter how intricate the levels get, doesn't hold much excitement and can be excruciatingly dull.

I don't want to sound too damning about Logical, as it does prove rather addictive, but I can't help feeling that there should be more to it, and, as such, I have my reservations.