PrismaPix Review
PROS
- 180 puzzles with three modes of play.
- Scaling difficulty ranging from helpful and casual to challenging and foreboding.
- Elegant mix of logic style puzzling to create imagery; provides a continual sense of achievement.
CONS
- User interface not as polished as the puzzles themselves.
- While still helpful, text explanations are hard to learn from.
VERDICT
PrismaPix is a brand new puzzle experience brought over from Kris Pixton's secret cache of PC-based titles and much like PathPix its addictive charm is immediately apparent thanks to the clever use of logic gameplay akin to games like Minesweeper.
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There's a reason why we at AppSpy recently reviewed Kris Pixton's latest release in the Pathpix series - it was to act as a refresher or reminder of the developer's particular puzzling style. Ultimately it acts as a perfect introduction to an entirely new (relatively speaking) puzzling experience in the form of PrismaPix, and while it may feature the same core goals of PathPix, the gameplay itself is fresh and utterly engrossing.
Mixing elements of games such as Minesweeper, Fill-a-Pix, and Picross, the player is tasked with solving noncontiguous 'layers' of color that, when completed, come together and reveal a pixelated version of a high-resolution image. The true magic of the game comes in the way it nudges the player forward, keeping in mind the most casual of puzzle fans, while providing difficulty scaling that will test logic-hardened veterans.
Much like Minesweeper, numbers on the grid represent a number of 'correct' pixels in its direct proximity. By using the information available to you (pixels flagged as 'impossible', correctly filled pixels, and other numbers) it's possible to work out what your next step should be. If you're stuck, you could get some help from the 'Tute' or 'Hint' buttons (one aims to teach the logic behind the choices, the other simply points out the next 'step'), but Kris Pixton goes even further than that in making the game a smooth experience.
'Autoscrolling' may feel awkward at first, but the player is purposefully directed to an area of the puzzle where the player may complete a step of it. Layers without any current solvable solutions are also locked off, preventing the player from taking wild-swipes at the puzzle until they learn some of the basic logic patterns.
Once comfortable with the easy mode, players can advance to 'Tricky' or 'Expert', where the task becomes much harder thanks to missing 'impossible' squares that need to be filled in by the player. Pairs adjacent to each other (or further apart in the case of 'Expert') can be used to fill in the pixels, with the rest of the puzzle filling in automatically if you can solve its miniature challenge.
Those looking for a real hardcore experience can turn off all of the help features and go completely manual, flagging every pixel in an attempt to solve the puzzle.
While not as casually focused as PathPix, PrismaPix is still an amazingly addictive title and provides challenges ranging from zen-like to nail-biting in their complexity. Young or old, casual or hardcore - this is another puzzle title that will keep you happily busy for hours on end.
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