Sokobond Express review - "Is this science?!"

• Connect orbs to make elements
• Don't hit other orbs
• Pick whatever levels you want

I am not going to pretend I paid attention or remember anything from my school days in science class. It just wasn't something that entertained me or that I wanted to gain knowledge about.

Maybe, if there were other ways to approach what different elements were made up of and how they worked, I would have been more interested in listening. Enter Sokobond Express, a puzzler that slightly has to do with the elements.

Sokobond Express gameplay

I say slightly because if you are like me and have no idea, you can just play this as a puzzle game. Each level is made of a grid, with a starting and ending point. You need to move the base element around the map, grabbing other elements on the correct side to create something. 

This is done through creating a path, with the element (and anything it grabs onto) moving forward. Once you've used a block of the grid, you cannot go backwards through it or anything like that. At first, this is pretty easy combining oxygen with hydrogen to create H2O. After you complete each element and end the level, you do get a bit of facts about what you have created.

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Worry not, there are hints to help you out!

Each level does have a hint, which doesn't show you the exact path you need to take, but what the element should look like when it hits the endpoint. This can be quite helpful, especially as some elements hang on by two lines while others hang on by one, so you can sort of see where specific elements need to be attached. Sometimes the hint also gives a small segment of where the path should go. It's still quite challenging to get the elements to the end though!

If an element is attached to your main element, you cannot hit it against another element in the map. You can go outside the grid, but actually running into another element will end your track. You can easily see when this is happening through the X on the line, showing where you've gotten caught.

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I do think the simple yet clearly labelled things like this make Sokobond Express a fun challenge - you can instantly see where you've gone wrong before you even hit Play on the level to see how it pans out.

There also always seem to be at least two levels to choose from when it comes to the level select menu, so if you are really struggling, you can go out and select a different one. Some levels have a dotted like to a question mark, which means they will open up a new area, building on the previous mechanics you have played with. Soon, I found I needed to pick up the connection orb so that I could then actually grab another element, adding even more challenge.