New Zealand based gaming company Stickmen Studios have created a very quirky casual game that is reminiscent of those puzzle games of yesterday but with a healthy dose of modernity thrown into the mix. In Doc Clock: The Toasted Sandwich of Time, gamers play the strange and almost mad scientist like, Doc Clock, an inventor who has been stumbling along in life. Humour is a key element to the game as is the premise of a twisted toaster time machine and a protagonist who only wishes to do good. Needless to say, his attempts at fixing his problems often lead to much bigger problems and this is where the player takes control.

The game begins with our whacky scientist accidentally turning his cat into a plant, thanks to his ultimate toasted sandwich maker... a nifty idea but unfortunately not on this occasion. A shocked Doc Clock then does the unthinkable and invents a time machine in order to rectify his mistake. Why didn't he just reverse his mistake as opposed to inventing something more complicated? The answer is that Doc Clock is on a different wave process than normal humans. However as his time machine works, Doc finds out that he is in the distant future, a place that is ruled by robots but to compound the situation, his time machine has been destroyed. Your goal is simple, find the parts to resemble the time machine, fix up your mistake and then go back to your own time. Simple yes? Not really.

As you control Doc Clock, the gameplay is an amalgam of puzzles meets platformer. The quirky game controls works quite well with this genre as you attempt to navigate Doc from point A to point B. By using the inventor side of Doc Clock, this will help you reach other areas in the game, thanks to bridges and even vehicles. Like the hidden object puzzle genre, if you do become stuck, there is a hint system. The game sort of reminds of Little Big Planet, Ratchet and Clank crossed with some puzzle game as you really need to use your wits to make strange contraptions to help our little mad scientist out. As you collect items in this strange futuristic world, you can store everything in your SACK, a backpack that actually talks and can be quite funny at times. By keeping things in your bag, this can help you create your masterpieces to progress.

In terms of controls, Doc Clock: The Toasted Sandwich of Time works well with the keyboard and mouse and we have no issues with this control system whatsoever. Generally, most muck-ups were made by ourselves, thanks to some tricky puzzles. If you do become stuck, there is a cool "rewind" feature called the Time Slider that basically allows you to rewind the game in order to help you out.  Some of the puzzles also require perfect timing and this is where the Time Slider comes into play because at times, you want to scream with frustration but a quick rewind and you might be able to succeed where you first failed.

Graphically, the game is quite a good looking game on the PC that mimics one of those almost Flash-like Saturday morning cartoons. Even though it may not look like the latest gaming blockbuster like Call of Duty or Need for Speed, the game has this charm, just like Little big Planet and suits the premise perfectly. With strange level designs to suit and sometimes even stranger puzzles, it's quite a surreal experience on the PC. Add in a mellow soundtrack and some weird sound effects and Doc Clock: The Toasted Sandwich of Time is quite an impressive indie game from our mates in New Zealand.

Final Thoughts?

Doc Clock: The Toasted Sandwich of Time is available via Steam that is quite affordably priced. It will take most seasoned gamers around 5 hours to complete but newcomers to this genre will easily get another 2 - 3 hours of out it. By taking your time and attempting to reach new destinations, thanks to the puzzles, it will definitely keep you enthralled and will lengthen your gaming experience. This is not a bad game at all!