Heaven & Earth

The Good
almost everything about this game is addictive. It has several card games, a pendulum game and some mouse movement games. I havent seen it in years but if i ever found it again i would buy it.

The Bad
the down side of this game is the copy protection. It requires the manual. The only reason I stopped playing this game is because I lost the manual and couldnt start up the game. It occasionally asks a question that can only be found in the manual.

The Bottom Line
Describing it would be very long if i tried. Bottom line at the top, if you like any puzzle or brain teaser games including solitare you would love this game. What I played most was a solitare card game. A normal deck has 2 parts: the number and the suit. for example the 2 of clubs. In Heaven and Earth there are 3 parts: 1)month, jan-dec, 2) element, fire earth water and air and 3) the main part of the card might be mountain, rain, thunder and others i dont remember. the object of this game is out a number of cards dealt face down (2-4 i cant remember) you pick one and it goes face up on the playing field. you then make combinations of cards that have a point value for instance 4 air cards or opposite months (jan and july are opposites i believe) or special combinations like rain and thunder together are a good bonus but seperatly cause a penalty. like i said very addictive.

another game is a mouse movement challenge. I'll describe it as best as i can. you have say two squares side by side and a mouse pointer in each. on one side you have a block. the mouse pointer cannot leave its box and as you move your mouse both pointers move at the same time. so you move left pick up the box with one pointer and drag it to the line between the boxes on the right (both pointers move right) then it can be reached by the second pointer so you drop it and move the pointers left agian so the second pointer can click on it and drag it to the right. this way you move the block from the far left to the far right across the two boxes without either pointer leaving its own box. I hope you can get a mental image of the game from that. the challenge of the game is when the configuration of the boxes get complex and the mouse pointers move other directions, for instance when you move the mouse up some pointers go up some down or even sideways. it really makes you rethink normal movements (and very fun).

Again another game is a pendulum. this is much easier to describe. Imagine if you will a weight hanging on the end of a string. now put that in a bowl. as you move your mouse one way it is the same as blowing on the pendulum in that direction. and you simply manipulate the pendulum to point to a marker on the surface of the bowl. simple yet fun. as you progress it does get harder because there are "attraction points" added to the bowl that interfere with your control, oh and dont forget the "repell points". Both of these attract or repel your pendulum in much the same way you are trying to control it. I caution you from experience not to play this game hours past your bed time. it has a hypnotic effect over time and you find yourself still playing even though you have lost track of who and what you are (of course the lack of sleep can do that too but i still couldnt pull myself away heh heh heh).

there are more games to Heaven and Earth but it has been easily 13 years since I have even seen it so forgive my memory. like I said it is very fun and very addictive. I hope I find it again some day.

The Good
This was the game that (to my mind) established Scott Kim as the world's leading puzzle-designer. Each type of puzzle is divided into 4 "types", with 12 puzzles per "type." "Type" 1 introduces the mechanics of the puzzle, then builds in difficulty over the 12 puzzles. "Type" 2 adds and/or changes the mechanics slightly and gives 12 more puzzles, again building in difficulty. It is the gradual evolution of hundreds of puzzles and interrelated puzzle mechanics which makes this game so fantastic.

The Bad
The graphics are somewhat dated, which might be irksome to some.

The Bottom Line
A puzzle-enthusiasts wet dream.