Yeah, I sucked in Chemistry. Luckily for me, it’s been brought down to size on my iPhone and simplified into mind-boggling puzzle gameplay. Fishing Cactus, the same guys that brought you Equilibrio on the iPhone/iPod Touch, are hell-bent on releasing awesome titles. This time, they teamed up with Atomic Cicada Studios to bring Minim–what I would call an entirely fresh concept–to one of my favorite platforms for indies, the iPhone/iPod Touch.

Coming off of an excellent streak of releases on the iPhone, Fishing Cactus gained more than 1,400,000 downloads on its previous release, Shift. Since Minim, they have released a new title called Mikks. But before I even think of playing the other two I’ll have to give you my thoughts on this game. Oh, and I’ll even give you a link where you can play 35 of the 50 levels for free on your PC. What a nice guy I am!

Gameplay

Minim certainly isn’t hard to get the hang of. Your main goal is to combine all the atoms in order to minimize one of the 50 given molecules. These atoms are numbered from 1 to 9. When two atoms are of the same number, they can be combined and form an atom that is the next number up. So, for example, if you combine a 1 and 1 then you receive a 2. With a 2 and another 2 you will make a 3. Keep in mind that while the atoms are numbered from 1 to 9, the highest number you can combine them to is 10. That’s basically it; all you need to do is minimize (Get it? That’s how they got the name!) the molecule by combining the atoms and forming one final atom.

So what keeps it fresh? Well, the developer has chosen to throw in quite a few variables. Sometimes there are atoms that can only add, subtract, multiply, and divide the atom of your choice (which must be connected by a white line). Naturally, this makes it twice as hard to choose effectively and you’ll find that you need to backtrack your steps quite often in order to nail the latter molecules (from level 18 and on). There are also a couple of variations for lines, such as a blue or red. A blue line allows you to switch the places of the atoms attached to it; a red line does the same, but you are only able to switch the places once. While these additions may be small in nature, they change the flow of the gameplay consistently. Each level is harder than the last and sometimes introduces a new variable.

Style

This type of game does not require a powerful engine to run on but rather a good-looking interface that is easy to navigate through. The good news is Minim provides just that. The graphics, though not much is required of them, are crisp in their presentation and really do give a chem-lab sort of feel.

Story

It’s not hard to believe this but Minim has no story elements. None.

Everything Else

The music is eerie and haunting, which is kind of strange because the game doesn’t feel the same way. It does bode well for concentration, however, and you will find that it becomes easier to ignore as gameplay goes on and the difficulty increases. Is Minim the greatest game ever released? Probably not. Will it provide hours of gameplay? I don’t think so. Is it a fresh concept? Yes. Does it have a lot of replay value? Not really; not yet, at least (assuming you finish all 50 levels). But it strays well from most titles encountered today and is a relatively agreeable purchase at $1.99.

Want to try it before you buy it? Well, you can check out the lite version on the App Store or try out the game’s Flash predecessor with 35 levels right here. I’m a man of my word!