STORY
Essence Child is a lovely freeware puzzle game created by Living Energy Productions in 2005. 

Soul and Essence are two creations that come from a far-off world.  Their sun is dying, and it will soon explode.  The Soul leader creates a special liquid called Celatin to restore the sun's energy.  When Soul and Essence begin warring, the Celatin liquid is sealed in a complex maze of puzzles to prevent it from being destroyed. 

Now the war has ended, and the old Essence leader has passed away.  His son (the Essence Child) now wishes to retrieve the Celatin liquid, and save their world.  He teams up with the old Soul leader to design 3 coloured balls to navigate through the maze of puzzles, and find the magical liquid. 

GAMEPLAY
You must travel through four lands - Snow \ Tree \ Fire \ Death - to reach the Celatin liquid at the centre of the world.  In order to do this, you must navigate 3 coloured balls (green, blue, and red) through various puzzles, and get each ball into the correct coloured hole.  Of course, things are never that simple, and there are many obstacles for you to overcome. 

Yellow doors block your way, and you need to find keys in order to open them.  You may need to switch to a different coloured ball in order to reach some keys.  Once you have found a key, then any ball can use it.  Teleporters give you access to different parts of the screen.  There are 2 different types of teleporter.  Grey teleporters can be used by any ball.  Coloured teleporters can only be used by the same colour ball; only green balls can use green teleporters, only red balls can use red teleporters, and only blue balls can use blue teleporters.  Walls work in a similar way to the coloured teleporters - only balls the same colour as the wall can pass through.  Switches and conveyor belts are other obstacles that you must overcome. 

The first level is a tutorial, showing you how to play the game.  I thought this was a nice touch as it lets you get a feel for the game and teaches you how to deal with various problems.  The game is controlled entirely by the keyboard, which makes things nice and straightforward.  The levels have been cleverly thought out, and they really provide a challenge.  Some levels are quite tricky, and you must plan ahead as to what your next move will be.  If you are stuck, just press 'R' to restart that level. 

I really enjoyed playing this game, but I thought that is was quite short. 

 Movement   - Arrow keys
 Advance to next screen - Space
 Change ball   - Shift
 Restart level   - R
 Save game (map screen)  - S
 Back to main menu  - Escape
 
GRAPHICS
The graphics are very bright and colourful, which makes it very enjoyable to play.  There are four lands to travel through (snow, tree, fire, death), and each land has it own distinct theme.  Everything from tree stumps in the tree level, to skulls in the death level is lovely to look at.  I especially like the snowmen in the snow level map. 

The game is viewed at an angle, giving it a 3D appearance.  I thought this was nice, as it gave you a better view of your balls, as well as 'hidden' objects such as keys or switches.

MUSIC AND SOUND EFFECTS
There is a nice variety of music in this game.  Each land has its own distinct music.  For example, music for the Death Land is quite rocky and spooky, while music for the Snow Land is very upbeat and cheerful.  The sound effects are nice and simple.  There is a nice 'energizing' sound when you go through a teleporter, and a nice 'clink' as you pick up keys. 

There is a small 'speaker' icon at the top right.  If you do not like the music, just click on this icon to turn it off.  Click on the icon again to turn the music back on.

REPLAYABILITY
There is a nice level editor that allows you to design you own levels.  You can then challenge you friends to complete your level.

SUMMARY
This is a very addictive game, and you will not want to stop.  The background story adds a lot more depth to the game.  The levels are well thought out, and are very challenging.  The restart feature that allows you to restart a level is a welcome feature, as you will often find yourself stuck. Each land has its own theme, with its own style of graphics and music. 

I highly recommend this game, so why not download it and try it for yourself? You can only gain by that.