Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

The PSP demo of Patchwork Heroes takes the basic idea of the old arcade game Qix — fill in blocks of a screen a bit of a time to fill up 75% or more of the space — and rewraps it in a quirky, steampunk-style action game. Instead of a little flashing diamond drawing lines you control a tough team of saw-wielding freedom fighters aiming to cut an incoming mostly-wooden warship to pieces before it can bomb Your Town (its actual name).

Your game lives are measured by members of your team, and each team member has a portrait, a name, and an age attached. Each time you get hit — by a missile fired from a turret aboard the enemy ship or by an enemy unit crawling about — one of your teammites dies with a collective gasp from an unseen audience and a pop-up picture of his surprised face, name, and age. Teammates can also be sacrified by dropping a bomb on the surface of the craft — I’m guessing they have to stand and hold it in place while you flee. The audience factors in nicely to the personality of the game by celebrating your progress in the level. They cheer as you saw off bits of the craft and pick up powerups.

Later levels add more challenges like homing missiles, stretches of the warship made of uncuttable metal complete with metal grinding sounds as you try to cut it, and enemy units that will see you cutting, scurry over, and repair the cut. You’re given a leg up in the form of powerups and jail cells to spring your countrymen from before lopping off the bit of the ship they’re imprisoned in.

The icing on the cake, though, is the quirky presentation. You and your men fly out to meet the incoming flying airships in a floppy jalopy of a helicopter, having morale-boosting conversations as you go. The demo is nicely self-aware as well, telling you to relax and enjoy yourself since all it is is a demo.

Patchwork Heroes will be a PSN digital release only and is headed to the store this Thursday, March 18th. Give the demo a try. If you enjoyed Qix back in the day, I think you’ll enjoy it.