Endorfun


Endorfun is a single-player puzzle computer game released in 1995 for Microsoft Windows and Macintosh. It was later released in Japan under the title Cu-On-Pa, appearing on the consoles Super Famicom and PlayStation. A Nintendo 64 version was announced but never released. The game uses new age messages throughout its soundtrack.

Gameplay

The player controls a small cube, referred to as a light body, by using the keyboard or mouse. The light body rolls along a grid collecting life force tiles by rolling the cube over them such that the top face of the cube matches the colour of the tile. Coloured tiles of varying types appear randomly on the playing surface, but can be eliminated in the same manner as life force tiles.
Games are divided into multiple levels, each of which has a set time limit and a life force target. If a player collects the target amount of life force play proceeds to the next level. If the timer expires or the light body is unable to move then the game is over.
There are three different modes of play in Endorfun, each with different goals:
  1. Longevity: play for the longest possible time
  2. Abundance: pass through a set number of levels before time runs out
  3. Quickening: as Abundance, but levels become progressively faster and more difficult

    Soundtrack

Endorfun's soundtrack is composed of a large number of short, looped song segments. Each segment is approximately 5 seconds long, with different segments strung together to provide longer, varied soundtracks for each level.
Each level's soundtrack contains messages oriented towards peace, well-being, love, and happiness.

Reception

Reviewing the Macintosh version, a Next Generation critic lauded the gameplay, saying it "soon becomes a Zen sort of experience in the same way that Tetris sometimes does". He added that the "abstract symphony of mesmerising graphics, colorful motion, and swelling, jazzy background tunes soon puts the player in that autopilot gaming state where complex movement sequences and on-the-fly strategies becomes second nature and all is forgotten but the rhythm." Despite this, he gave it only three out of five stars.