Loopz combines gameplay elements of Tetris and Pipe Dream. On an initially empty playing field (18×7, regardless of platform) pieces materialize. They are made up of one to six squares and represent pieces of pipe: straight, bent, S-shaped. You have a limited time to rotate them, move them and place them where you want them. As soon as you assemble a closed loop, it vanishes and you are rewarded with points, the longer the loop, the higher. If you do not place them within the allocated time, they just vanish, but if you do that too often, game is over (I failed to understand the exact game mechanics in this point). Now and then you get a bomb instead which you can use to remove one set of connected pipes. To add some more variance, there are three game modi: free gameplay, reach a certain amount for the next level, or finish a pre-defined loop.
Loopz was released by renowned publisher Audiogenic (of Impact! fame) and was in its second year available for practically every platform of the day. But not on a single one did it become an all-time favorite like Krakout or TRAZ. It has its entry in many, but by far not all of the big game databases. It is not a game you stumble upon all too easily. There are several possible explanations for this. One is that gameplay wasn't all that satisfying. It is dangerous to use well-known elements, but use them differently. If you have played Pipe Dream a lot, rotating the pieces seems counter-intuitive. It feels like cheating.
Another possible explanation is timing. In 1989, the market was good for this kind of game. In 1990, it was already pretty saturated. One year means a lot in this short-lived trade.
Christophe Yvon created a very good Windows port in 1992, and there were a few games that were inspired by Loopz. Among them is Trubis, Master of Bombs and the Macintosh game Quadris that is still on my backlog. In most cases, they did a better job.
The obvious thing to do now would be to unleash a flood of the usual puzzle game reviewing phrases likemaddeningly addictiveorcouldn't tear myself away, but the trouble is that Loopz isn't really all that addictive, I'm afraid. Not enormously so, anyway. And I'm not entirely sure why. It seems pretty much like any other puzzle game, so one would expect to be hooked to it for hours. But instead it's only averagely addictive. I derived a moderate amount of enjoyment from it, but had no difficulty in switching it off to watch the weather forecast. Get the idea?
The title screen of Loopz indicates that it's an evaluation version, but it's hard to see what changes HandMade Software might have made to their game to improve it. Although it's often pointless to speculate on the "whys" of Atari's business practices, it's clear that administration didn't get to play Loopz in any form; if they had, they would have seen that HandMade Software clearly had another winner on its hands and released it immediately. Loopz is an outstanding game that only strengthens the Lynx's incredible library of puzzlers, and is, frankly, a "must-buy." Bruce Caruso of "B&C Computervisions" is currently offering Loopz at a reduced price when purchased with his other Lynx "prototype" cartridges. Run—don't walk—to the nearest phone and place an order if you don't already have this amazing title in your collection.
Fans of LucasFilm's earlier Pipe Dreams should have a blast, although Loopz is much more similar to Tetris and arguably more complex.
