Pushover is a charming little game featuring an ant and several stacks of dominos. The plot of the game is quite simple, your dog friend has lost his crips and you have to find them for him. That's it. There's very little more explained, including the reason for the quavers product placement in the game. And especially no explanation of why finding a packet of crisps would lead you to set up intricate domino runs. But that's the simplicity of the game. From here on in it gets tricky!
The game concept is that you have to set up domino runs around 2D levels in order to knock over the final domino, which unlocks the door to the next level. Levels can be multilayered, can have ledges with bottomless pits, and can include a variety of dominos to use in order to complete the level. As the little ant guy you have to pick up and carry dominos around the level and place them in the correct order in the chain. Once you're happy with your chain give the first domino a push and watch the outcome. If you get the sequence right the door to the next level will open and you can go through.
The real challenge to the go is the different dominos you have to use. The basic dominos just fall straight over and form the majority of each chain. However there are several other dominos that become available to you as you progress through the levels. In the earlier levels you get introduced to a domino that splits into two pieces and falls in opposite directions, so that you can start two chains at once. You also get to use a domino with permanent momentum; at least it continues to fall head over heels until it hits another domino. This one is good for connecting a chain with a big gap in it. You can also use a domino that won't fall over to bounce the momentum domino in a different direction. Later on you can also use dominos that float upwards before falling, so that you can start a domino chain from a lower level and head upwards. The number of special dominos available seems quite high and there always seems to be just one more to make use of. Each one you unlock tends to then appear in the next level and the next, until you have a vast selection of special dominos that are required to complete a level.
Game progress is maintained by a series of passwords for each level. This is the one letdown of the game as it means you cannot save high scores or progress. Of course for the time that this game was released available space for game saves was either small or non-existent, depending on which format you played games, so it's understandable that this modern game feature was never incorporated.
Sound and graphics are quite simple yet addictive. For a game that I played as a child I am impressed at how well the graphics have held up. I've recently revisted games such as The Secret of Monkey Island that graphically haven't aged well, yet Pushover manages to look good even today. As with many games that are now freeware or abandonware, it's the gameplay that keeps gamers coming back and Pushover is a wonderfully addictive little puzzler. I remember fondly playing through this game as a child and revisiting it in adulthood it still holds all of the appeal that it did 20 years ago to my younger self.
I'd highly recommend giving this game a go for anyone into puzzle games like Peggle, Tetris, Bejewelled and the like, or for anyone looking for a retro gaming fix. As the game is now considered abandonware it's completely free to download and play, so you have nothing to lose.
You can download Pushover for free at AbandonOnline
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