Exkee's I-Fluid is the story of a tiny droplet of water trying to navigate the big wide world around it. It's a simple premise really, as is the game's main challenge: make it to the end without dying. Things seem a bit old school a la Marble Madness, but does this indie title match up to the arcade classic?
As mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the game is about navigating each level, you have infinite lives, but the entire game is on a timer, so you don't have all day to lag around. Each level features a number of obstacles to overcome like thin pencil bridges, falling paper clips, steep slopes, and sharp turns. Paper and other absorbent obstacles provide players with a deep challenge, as navigating around these perils sometimes requires pinpoint precision. Touching anything that can absorb causes you to wither away until you become nothing and thus "die." However, collecting little water droplets along the way restores your size and lets you continue on. The game makes use of the keyboard as the main method of control, though the controls feel very basic and stripped down to the bare essentials.
The actual level designs aren't bad, taking you through different areas of a house, often with interesting twists. For example, one level places you in the middle of a Mexican-themed party while others have you navigating a dark kitchen with only the light of a firefly illuminating the way or dealing with hot frying pans that will evaporate you in an instant. The in-game physics are pretty good and the interactivity isn't bad either; in fact, several levels require our little droplet friend to knock things over or move things to reach the next part. If I-Fluid had more of this kind of interactivity and exploration, it certainly would not have hurt the game or taken away from the Marble Madness feel it sometimes gives off.
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