The Powder Toy

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Developer - The Powder Toy

Platforms - Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7/8
Linux
Mac

Genre - Sandbox/Simulation

Players - 1

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Synopsis

The Powder Toy Portable is a game of physics and fluid mechanics. You can play with different materials whose properties and influences are simulated. The Powder Toy is a free physics sandbox game, which simulates air pressure and velocity, heat, gravity and a countless number of interactions between different substances! The game provides you with various building materials, liquids, gases and electronic components which can be used to construct complex machines, guns, bombs, realistic terrains and almost anything else. You can then mine them and watch cool explosions, add intricate wirings, play with little stickmen or operate your machine.

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Gameplay

The Powder Toy is a fantastic free game where you do as you want! There is no aim or goal! Feel like blowing something up in huge, bright flames? Do it! Feel like building a complex village with working machines? Do it! Want to build a real flying, operating rocket? Build it! Your free to make and do what you want with the many, many real elements of the game. From TnT, to Oil, Oxygen to Nitrogen, Diamond to Sponge, Uranium to Plutonium! Create a house, and fill it with gas, and see what happens to the walls when a flame is lit! Smash glass with shock waves, or tear down concrete buildings with lava! The Powder Toy has it all!

Whether your feeling a little bored, really destructive, or really creative, Powder Toy will always entertain you! You can also learn a lot from this game too! As all the elements and objects are real, the reactions of it all is realistic! With air pressure, temperature, controlling the wind and more, it's actually interesting for you science lovers too!

The physics of the game are brilliant. With heavier objects sinking below others, and lighter objects floating on others, it all works realistically. Other, lighter particles will blow in the wind that you create, whilst heavier particles will stay put. It all feels and flows the way it should in real life.

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Graphics

The graphics are great for what is essentially and falling sand game. It's basic, 2D graphics, but look great for how simple the game really is! There are many different colours, and you can make your own colours, which also look great by mixing elements! There are particles of all sizes, and at a steady 60 FPS usually, it's flows smoothly!
Liquids flow over solids like real life, whilst others float on top of others. Explosions are bright and colourful, and change colour, depending on what you react. It all looks great!


Screenshots

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Controls

The main controls are very easy and basic. With just the mouse to control, there's no need to memorize what does what! Click what you want, where you want, it's that simple! If you'd like, you can change the size of the brush easily with the scroll button, and increase how much 'stuff' you add!

There are also Hotkeys, allowing you to interchange to what you want even easier! Everything can be done with the mouse, although hotkeys allow you to change a few others, some to the HUD.
There are also a few button combinations which can easily be found on the Powder Toy website, and many are just normal Hotkeys for the usual (Copy, Paste etc.).

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Rating and Overall

Overall, The Powder Toy gets a well deserved 8/10!
Fantastic little game to fill in those times where you've not got much to do, or when your waiting for a pesky long download! Or in my case, just hours of fun!

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There is an online feature to the game too! This allows you to load up other users designs and creations, and use them yourself! You can see how others make there designs, and take inspiration for yourself!

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