Production Panic is an Xbox Live Indie Game that has been just recently released on July 13th, 2011. You might not think much of the game at first glance, and until you read this you may not even of been aware of the release. If ever there were a good time to say “don’t judge a book by it’s cover,” then this would be it. Production Panic looks very plain and basic in almost all ways. The music also has a 80s easy listening type of beat that will at first seem annoying, but during the stress of the game you will be glad for the calming atmosphere it creates. The other seemingly annoying but actually quite bizarre aspect of the game is your supervisor. Her anger is well displayed to you, and she seems to have big plans to use you for your work.
The game mechanics themselves are quite fun. There are 14 “days” in which you will play and each day is a board that you will work with. There are three rounds per day and they usually differ some from what you had done before, but the last round in a level is always the fastest. The puzzles borrow the “pipedream” mechanic in that you are constantly diverting the path of your factory to make things go where they belong. That is the main point of the game. The catch is that each round has a set number of mistakes you can make. Mistakes run from sending your package to the wrong place to having an accident in the factory. You are graded letter scale, with points taken off for mistakes. Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a leaderboard function as that would have made the game seem longer because it is a one player game. I think this is a great game that is well worth a purchase and it is a really decent title for those ready for a challenge.
[Images via MikeE]
