Office Rush

Office Rush is a cute little game that isn't going to cower in the face of political correctness. In Office Rush it's your job to climb the corporate ladder and advance to the position of CEO. Only then will you be able to stick it to the little guy and make far more than one person should ever be paid. No, this game isn't really about economics. It's actually got more of a puzzle slant to it than anything else.

When Office Rush first loads you'll be greeted by a title screen and some nice music. Then you'll get an error that tells you your license isn't valid and it'll close even though you just purchased it. Hopefully that's just me, but that's what did happen and I strive for accurate reporting. So I eventually reload, go through the tutorial which explains that your starting role with the firm is that of a security guard. And what's the biggest problem security guards in corporate America face today? Yes, indeed... ninjas! So you have to kill the ninja and get back to your office (and by 'kill the ninja' I mean 'touch the ninja'). So, on each screen there are some obstacles and you have to run and jump around to get over to the ninja and then back to your place, but wait there's more... each level is actually made up of several tiled screens that can be shifted around like a slide puzzle. You can only travel between these screens if you have them connected correctly (which seems to mean that connected edges look the same). This actually turns out to be a good recipe for a neat little puzzle game that will stop to make you think for a second or two, but, while I have not finished the game, hasn't really left me hanging for any length of time.

Eventually you graduate and make it to secretary. And what do secretaries do? Yes, indeed... they make coffee. So next you'll be getting water (and by 'getting water' I mean 'touching the water cooler') to make coffee and then delivering it to the boss on your knees begging for his approval. No, joke! And, naturally, the secretary is clearly female. Whether you're offended by that or think it's funny one thing is certain: it really wasn't necessary as the central concept of 'touch point A and go to point B' remains the same.

The graphics are basic, and while there a nice little bit of intro music, there really isn't much to the audio for this game. Controls work well and are responsive. Just press the on-screen left or right buttons to move and while moving press the other button to jump. Actually that's a pretty clever control scheme that keeps the on-screen buttons to a minimum. The only control issue I had was with the title screen and I just this moment figured it out. You have to slide to play and/or select a level and not just touch/press the arrows. That was driving me nuts!

Office Rush is a nice little game and is just $0.99 in the Android Market. If you like puzzle style games with a little bit of arcade action thrown in then this is a perfect fit. I'm wondering if later levels will have more than a 2 x 2 slide puzzle, because that would make for a series of much more challenging puzzles. As is, even if I don't see a solution I can easily play trial and error to find one. 4/5 stars for a game that really gets down to business.