Infection as a puzzle mechanic; that's what I think of when I play Sporos. This isn't a new concept mind you. Last year's Tentacle Wars comes to mind, but there's something about covering cells using the microscopic entity known as the sporos that I find equally parts engaging and creepy. To extend that factor, this game both contains a laboratory for essential infection and experimental. Now that game never actually states what the sporos is or what you're doing, so I'll stick with my horrific interpretation. It makes for a nice puzzle mechanic though.

Each level consists of a series of cells that need to be filled completely with the sporos' you have on hand. Each sporos is lined at its center, showing the direction it will spread when placed in any cell. Stars are awarded based on how quickly you solve the puzzle, and thankfully if you get placement wrong, you can just move a sporos to a new cell to see how that will react, or remove them altogether. It's a simple concept that is quite addictive as you plough through the levels, of which there are an enormous amount. The thing is that the game never really throws any new mechanics at you; it's just different cell layouts and different types of sporos. The experimental lab shakes things up a bit with having arrowed cells that will fill up the board in the direction they are facing if hit, but that too can get old after ten to twenty levels.

Luckily the presentation helps convey a sense of wonder with the sporos infecting the dank watery cell fluid with a punctuated brightness of color. The music is very minimalist, but it sells the aesthetic, and when solving puzzles, you don't necessarily want the sound drawing attention to itself.

Puzzle fans might not get much longevity playing Sporos, but it's unique enough to be worth a look, and as long as you don't get bored of the mechanics, there's more than enough content to make your way through. And now that we're at the end of this review, it might interest you to know that including this utterance, the word sporos appeared ten times in the review. If we see or hear it again, it might just be too soon.