 |
| Source // MobyGames |
It's not a game it's a dance, says the 1001 write up for Flywrench, an arty little addiction that has you flap a space ship through the solar system in incresingly more difficult challenges designed to test both skill and patience.
It doesn't look like much, but you don't need it to. You'll be too focused to care about flashy graphics with this one...
 |
| Source // MobyGames |
Fun Times
Today, Flywrench is a fancy title that has found a home on the PlayStation 4, but in 2007, it was more of an art piece, or a proof of concept. It would eventually be expanded upon to become what it is today, and while it hasn't changed a whole lot, I wanted to track down as early a version as I could, which I think to be the 2007 prototype, though the Internet has been scrubbed of it a little now that you can buy a full game for modern systems.
 |
| Source // MobyGames |
Chunky text welcomes you to a bit of a void in space. You are Flywrench 6802, a ship that controls a little like Flappy Bird, bouncing and floating its way through devious stages littering the Solar System. We start at pluto.gate, where we'll get to grips with our ship and the games simple controls.
 |
| Source // MobyGames |
Frustrations
Now, I don't know for sure where this stage is in the game - it might be found under another planet untirely - but this will serve as an example of what you'll be looking at when playing Flywrench: Very little bit it's all incredibly important.
Your little ship is that white line. Be default, it's good at gracefully descending down the screen. Press the left or right arrow keys and it'll zip left or right. Press the up arrow key, and it'll bend in the middle and turn red. Hold the key and your red ship will plummet down, but just tap it and it'll flap up, switching from red to white to red as it does so, looking like a little abstract bird.
But there's no game in flapping. Games are found in avoiding things while flapping, which is tricky enough sometimes, but not good enough for Flywrench. Here, the gameplay is found in avoiding things while flapping and passing through gates and obstacles that are the same colour as your ship currently is.
Do you know what? This is easier with a video, isn't it?
That's footage of me learning how to play Flywrench on the fly. Seeing what works, finding out the hard way what doesn't. White ships pass through white lines, red through red. But red ships plummet, and everything doesn't like to touch anything yellow...
The full video was about twice as long, but the end of that was the end of my time with Flywrench. You can see me quit out because while it was mercifully quick to reset when you inevitably failed, good Lord did you fail a lot.
 |
| Source // MobyGames |
 |
| Source // MobyGames |
Further Fun Times
There's a game I absolutely love though which is just as frustrating but puts you into an identical zone of believing you've got this, only to be proven time and again that no, you don't, and that's Super Hexagon.
In it, you are navigating a thing through oncoming obstacles by rotating its position relative to the stage, which itself is rotating and morphing and flashing more colours than an overpriced gaming keyboard. When you get into the zone and find your rhythm, anything is possible, and it's accompanied by music that is fantastic.
I've not heard the music from Flywrench too much, but if it's more of the same, I'm ready for it. There are a bunch of .ogg files waiting for me - it'll be far easier to load them up than struggle with the game.
Final Word
And that's the truth of Flywrench. I'm just no good at it. I can't figure it out and react to events quickly enough to get through it. It is because of the music and the instant restarts and the sheer unfounded belief that I can do this, come on, it's simple, that I played for as long as I did.
But I did only play for 10 minutes before knowing it wasn't for me. It's like watching speedruns of Super Meat Boy. You look at your own pathetic attempts after that and you wonder why you should even bother. Flywrench can look incredible, but for many, it'll probably be incredibly frustrating instead.
I urge you to try it out though, but is might be addictive, so watch out. It's always the simple games that keep you glued to the screens - because you're good enough to beat a simple game, aren't you? Nothing too challenging with this many buttons, eh? Come on, this'll be a doddle. What's a hundred attempts between friends?
I do prefer Super Hexagon, though. I'm better at that.
Fun Facts
Pressing down turns your ship into a green fidget spinner that bounces off yellow things? Well, I would have bloody liked to have been introduced to that already, wouldn't I?
Flywrench, developed by Messhof, first released in 2007.
Version played: PC, 2007.