Overview: With a bit of math and trial-and-error, toss animals (such as sheep and wolves) from one platform to the next and rescue just the right amount. Some sheep will be cut by lasers. Some sheep will be eaten by wolves. And some sheep will suffer some other awful fate. But some will live.
20170515:
I saw a trailer of this game prior to purchasing the Humble Bundle and this game alone was a strong incentive to buy the bundle. This time, rather than make a purchase and forgetting to play, I decided to take action and play Divide By Sheep. Actually it might not be a bad idea for me to ensure I play at least one game from each bundle I purchased.
In any case, at first I thought I would find the game boring, but the puzzles gradually got more difficult and the next thing I knew I had finished the first world; I was hooked. In fact I would have kept on playing as long as Ada was still working, but she finished and then we watched some television together.
Speaking of which, as we decided on what to watch, I told her about the game. I told her it's a game that uses math and the goal is to divide up the sheep. From what I said, she jokingly asked if that meant dividing the sheep up as a group or in pieces. To which I responded with a smile, both.
Setup: The game has a parental control option (to avoid the blood) but I didn't turn it on.
Tip: While I'll leave most of the rules of the game for the player to discover, I would like to explain the flag icon that might pop up in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. It shows up when a star is achieved and the player can click it to end the level content with the (one or two) stars they've collected thus far.
Steam Game Time: 55 minutes
Thoughts:
Pros:
+ (Darkly) humorous
+ Clever (and often difficult) puzzles
+ Nice flow of new puzzle mechanics
Neutral:
~ Trial-and-error required
~ Instructions for new puzzle mechanics are delivered via simple, text-free graphics; so part of the game is figuring out the rules
Summary:
This might set PETA's progress back several years. I never knew cutting up sheep with lasers could be so cute.
Joking aside, this game does a great job at blending humor and logic. With that being said, the game eventually introduces a puzzle mechanic which will divide animal groups into two halves (with the odd man going to the "dominant" half indicated by an arrow). This particular mechanic may be a possible barrier from a logical standpoint for kids who have yet to learn division (fourth grade).
While I have little experience with children's abilities to tackle such puzzles, I have watched my little cousin try and play various video games and being unable to get past the first part of the game (e.g., Super Mario Galaxy, Spider-Man 3).* In short, I would recommend, if any children should play the game, that they be comfortable with division by 2, and that their parents turn off the gore.
*The same cousin surprised me with his ability to play Minecraft.
20231220:
After playing Lucidity, I decided to resume Divide by Sheep. After checking to see there was no save file, I loaded up my old save file from Game Save Manager. It seems that from last time I played, I just about beat the first world (Green World) with all stars. Today I completed the second world (Ice World) with all stars.
Remark: for some time, I didn't realize the mechanic behind the caution strips. Luckily I was taking the route of moving on even without three stars. By chance, however, I had inadvertently triggered the mechanic on one of the levels and that's when I went back to all the previous two-star levels to check if I could make use of it. Some of the two-stars didn't use the mechanic, but it was a good opportunity to three-star them anyways.
Steam Game Time: 3.7 hours (cumulative game time) / 2.7 hours (session game time)
20231221:
Today I completed the third world (Dark World) and then almost completed the fourth world but I'm having trouble getting three stars on 4-28. I think it's the first puzzle thus far that I've really been stuck on.
Steam Game Time: 7.7 hours (cumulative game time) / 4.0 hours (session game time)
20231222:
Today I completed the fourth world (Spring World) and then went back and managed to get three stars on 4-28.
Steam Game Time: 9.0 hours* (cumulative game time) / 1.3 hours* (session game time)
*Was idle for about 13 minutes in order to blow up an air mattress
20231223:
Today I completed the fifth world (5th World). And with that I have all the stars.
Steam Game Time: 10.3 hours (cumulative game time) / 1.3 hours (session game time)
Summary:
I like puzzle games that strike a balance of difficulty. Some puzzle games lean towards being too hard for me and some are too easy for me. Divide by Sheep is one of those games that is right in the middle: most levels require some trial-and-error and can be solved in a few minutes, some are too easy and are solved in seconds, while some are hard and require at least half an hour to solve. This helps the game feel refreshing. In addition to the difficulty, the game also keeps puzzles fresh by adding new mechanics at a reasonable pace. Overall, I would recommend this game to any fan of puzzle games. In my previous summary I made a recommendation in regards to kids. I don't know what the game would look like without gore, but I would not let kids play this game. I would wait until my children were at least teenagers to play this type of game.
Rating: 5.0/5
Divide By Sheep (PC) (2015)
Relevant Links:
Divide By Sheep Website
Divide By Sheep (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Divide By Sheep (Steam Store Page)
 |
| Simple puzzle. Get the sheep to the rescue boat (2, 4, then 6) |
20170515:
I saw a trailer of this game prior to purchasing the Humble Bundle and this game alone was a strong incentive to buy the bundle. This time, rather than make a purchase and forgetting to play, I decided to take action and play Divide By Sheep. Actually it might not be a bad idea for me to ensure I play at least one game from each bundle I purchased.
In any case, at first I thought I would find the game boring, but the puzzles gradually got more difficult and the next thing I knew I had finished the first world; I was hooked. In fact I would have kept on playing as long as Ada was still working, but she finished and then we watched some television together.
 |
| Simple pictorial instructions. Sheep get cut, sheep get repaired, and wolves are content with half slices. |
Speaking of which, as we decided on what to watch, I told her about the game. I told her it's a game that uses math and the goal is to divide up the sheep. From what I said, she jokingly asked if that meant dividing the sheep up as a group or in pieces. To which I responded with a smile, both.
Setup: The game has a parental control option (to avoid the blood) but I didn't turn it on.
Tip: While I'll leave most of the rules of the game for the player to discover, I would like to explain the flag icon that might pop up in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. It shows up when a star is achieved and the player can click it to end the level content with the (one or two) stars they've collected thus far.
Steam Game Time: 55 minutes
Thoughts:
Pros:
+ (Darkly) humorous
+ Clever (and often difficult) puzzles
+ Nice flow of new puzzle mechanics
Neutral:
~ Trial-and-error required
~ Instructions for new puzzle mechanics are delivered via simple, text-free graphics; so part of the game is figuring out the rules
Summary:
This might set PETA's progress back several years. I never knew cutting up sheep with lasers could be so cute.
Joking aside, this game does a great job at blending humor and logic. With that being said, the game eventually introduces a puzzle mechanic which will divide animal groups into two halves (with the odd man going to the "dominant" half indicated by an arrow). This particular mechanic may be a possible barrier from a logical standpoint for kids who have yet to learn division (fourth grade).
 |
| TNT. Clearly this means the TNT will explode when sheeps leave. |
While I have little experience with children's abilities to tackle such puzzles, I have watched my little cousin try and play various video games and being unable to get past the first part of the game (e.g., Super Mario Galaxy, Spider-Man 3).* In short, I would recommend, if any children should play the game, that they be comfortable with division by 2, and that their parents turn off the gore.
*The same cousin surprised me with his ability to play Minecraft.
20231220:
After playing Lucidity, I decided to resume Divide by Sheep. After checking to see there was no save file, I loaded up my old save file from Game Save Manager. It seems that from last time I played, I just about beat the first world (Green World) with all stars. Today I completed the second world (Ice World) with all stars.
Remark: for some time, I didn't realize the mechanic behind the caution strips. Luckily I was taking the route of moving on even without three stars. By chance, however, I had inadvertently triggered the mechanic on one of the levels and that's when I went back to all the previous two-star levels to check if I could make use of it. Some of the two-stars didn't use the mechanic, but it was a good opportunity to three-star them anyways.
Steam Game Time: 3.7 hours (cumulative game time) / 2.7 hours (session game time)
20231221:
Today I completed the third world (Dark World) and then almost completed the fourth world but I'm having trouble getting three stars on 4-28. I think it's the first puzzle thus far that I've really been stuck on.
Steam Game Time: 7.7 hours (cumulative game time) / 4.0 hours (session game time)
20231222:
Today I completed the fourth world (Spring World) and then went back and managed to get three stars on 4-28.
Steam Game Time: 9.0 hours* (cumulative game time) / 1.3 hours* (session game time)
*Was idle for about 13 minutes in order to blow up an air mattress
20231223:
Today I completed the fifth world (5th World). And with that I have all the stars.
Steam Game Time: 10.3 hours (cumulative game time) / 1.3 hours (session game time)
Summary:
I like puzzle games that strike a balance of difficulty. Some puzzle games lean towards being too hard for me and some are too easy for me. Divide by Sheep is one of those games that is right in the middle: most levels require some trial-and-error and can be solved in a few minutes, some are too easy and are solved in seconds, while some are hard and require at least half an hour to solve. This helps the game feel refreshing. In addition to the difficulty, the game also keeps puzzles fresh by adding new mechanics at a reasonable pace. Overall, I would recommend this game to any fan of puzzle games. In my previous summary I made a recommendation in regards to kids. I don't know what the game would look like without gore, but I would not let kids play this game. I would wait until my children were at least teenagers to play this type of game.
Rating: 5.0/5
Divide By Sheep (PC) (2015)
 |
| This level requires rescuing a mix of wolves and sheep. |
Relevant Links:
Divide By Sheep Website
Divide By Sheep (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Divide By Sheep (Steam Store Page)
Date/Time
Monday, May 15, 2017
@
22:00
No comments :