Seems like this crowd is upset over a children's puzzle game. Thought it was alright, has decent graphics that shows what can be done procedurally without the need of carefully hand crafted assets.
I don't think it was intended to be a children's game; they're not the target market for Google I/O.
But also, in this be situation there isn't much positive to be said about the game. Everything about it is badly done. I'm fairly sure the criticisms (vague and badly communicated rules, clunky UI, graphics style that doesn't fit the puzzle, announcing music without a separate music control, way too many slow animations in the wrong places, browser compatibility issues) would be the same if this was a Show HN.
It's just that none of it is being given as constructive feedback. But even that makes sense: unlike for a Show HN nobody will be applying the feedback to fix the game.
(What I don't get is how this is so high on the frontpage, unless it's just for the schadenfreude.)
There are frustrating implimentation details like puzzles not being solved if you do something that looks obviously right but some subtle unwritten rule means it's wrong. In game design (and all UX really) when something looks right then it should be right. The user shouldn't ever have to think very hard to understand why something is wrong. This game fails in that regard.
See if being a children's game has any impact on your feelings about Winnie the Pooh's Home Run Derby then :p.
Small Google games are often actually really decent, especially in comparison to this, so I think that's where some of the disappointment comes from. The Doodle Champion Island one was my favorite.
