I’m not as learned about The 7th Guest [$2.99 / HD], or as much of a fan of the iOS port as Fearless Leader Eli “7th Guest” Hodapp, but even I’m stoked about this latest shred of news relating to the fabled puzzle game: Trilobyte, the studio behind the original game and its well-received touch-based port, is doing an iPad spin-off called The 7th Guest: Infection, a title solely based around the ridiculous-hard microscope puzzle that had to be cut from the port of The 7th Guest when it came to iOS earlier in 2010.
The microscope puzzle earned its “maddening” descriptor because it was — and still holds up as — one of the most convoluted and stressing game puzzles of all time. And since Infection is based around this very puzzle, I’ll go ahead and let Trilobyte do the describing of the game and its mechanics. See if you can follow! It’s fun, I swear!
Infection is a strategy board game designed to be played by the user against the AI engine; or, by two players. The 7×7 square grid, featuring layers of animated microbial action, is divided into 7 columns and 7 rows of consecutive cells. The object of the game is to make your microbes a majority on the board at the end of the game, by infecting and converting as many of your opponent’s microbes as possible…
During their turn, players move one of their microbes either one or two spaces in any direction. Diagonal distances are equivalent to orthogonal distances, e.g. it is legal to move to a cell whose relative position is two squares away both vertically and horizontally. If the destination is adjacent to the source, a new microbe is created on the empty departure square. Otherwise the microbe on the source moves to the destination. After the move, all of the opponent player’s microbes adjacent to the destination cell are converted to the color of the moving player. Players must move unless no legal move is possible, in which case they must pass.
The game is over when every cell has been covered or all the microbes are gone. Now, if you’re still interested, here’s a couple more fun details: Infection will feature Game Center, a brand new soundtrack, and, hey, seven difficulty levels if you, somehow, manage to get bored by the “normal” AI.
Trilobyte tells us that Infection will premiere at $2.99. Speaking of that, the game should crop up on the App Store in the very near future — it’s in approval as you read this.
