Puzzle Express Review

Intro

Yet another twist on Tetris… only this one has an extra twist, it’s actually fun!

The Story

In yet another twist on the typical Tetris genre, this game is all about fitting the shapes into the squares in order to get to the next stage but there are two different kinds in this version which is fun. The first version takes you on a whirlwind tour of the United States in which every time you fill in the square, you get to see an image from that city.

The second version of the game that you get in this game is the typical timed version in which you’re just trying to beat the clock.

The Good And The Bad

I had played this game once before I played this copy to review and playing through it this time I found out the same thing that I found this time, this is a fun game! The two versions were enough to sell me on this game but when you add the little twists to the game that come with each version and you have winner written everywhere.

The thing that I like the most about the US tour version of the game is that while there are plenty of major cities that are featured on this game, many of the cities are small cities that rarely get attention such as Bismarck, North Dakota. When was the last time you heard of anything, let alone a video game, talking about North Dakota?

The timed version was also very fun and challenging and it was really fun to have something help me think of things in new ways. It really opened my mind and made me think of things in a linear pattern which isn’t something that I get to do very often. I also learned how to map out my moves a little bit more which was a welcome change to my thinking pattern.

The developers also paid attention to the little details which I thought was a really interesting twist. Not only are you able to upload your own pictures to use in this game but also download new images to use during the game and it’s little things like that that can really keep your interest in a game alive. I can imagine some lucky geek across the country (and I use the term ‘geek’ in a very positive way since I am a self proclaimed and very proud geek) creating an image to use in this game for his girlfriend in which she sees a marriage proposal upon completing the puzzle.

I think my biggest complaint about this game is that upon completing a puzzle you have to wait for the next one to load up on the screen and while I appreciate that this is all part of playing a game, the wait just felt like it was much more than usual which was fairly annoying.

Music

There really wasn’t much music to speak of in this game that I found. There were occasional train related sound effects but not really any music which is kind of a shame since I really thought that this would’ve added to the playing atmosphere.

Overall

This was really a fun game and I really enjoyed it. The game play is simple and straight forward but it also made me think in new ways and kept me challenged as I worked my way towards the next level.

If you need a great time killer, this is a great way to go.