Developer: Decaying Logic
Publisher: KISS ltd
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Pixel Puzzles 2: Space – Review
Yay, it’s puzzle time once again! This time, we’re off into space to piece together some puzzles that are afloat in the vastness of the galaxy. With puzzles that range from sixty to three hundred fifty pieces, there are puzzles in every difficulty level. You’re only lucky that all pieces seem t orbit around their board, thus you won’t be disappointed by one piece being lost in eternity, which sadly often happens in real life.
Story
It’s safe to say that Pixel Puzzles 2: Space has no story value whatsoever. The whole atmosphere is one of intergalactic peace, and the only thing you need to do, is focus on getting the puzzle solved. Also, the stranded spaceman who is floating among your puzzle pieces, would be grateful if you could offer him a lift home, but that is completely up to you.
Graphics
In this game you will be constantly watching your board, which could only be expected, since it’s quite hard to finish a puzzle without one. Around the board, the pieces are floating around, along with a lonesome spaceman and some payloads. The backdrop is just a night blue sky with little stars that sparkle far away. The astronaut, as well as the rocket and satellites you will be able to launch look like nothing special, but the puzzles themselves look very nice and detailed and take up all the attention anyway. The photos used are all in a galactic theme, showing a rocket launch, planets, astronauts and so on, and all have beautiful colors. The pieces themselves have unique shapes in each puzzle, which makes it more fun to play around with, even though some shapes do make the puzzle harder to solve.
If you wish, you can customize your board just a tiny bit, since you can change the color to your liking. You can also zoom in if necessary, but besides that, you will have to do with what you get.
Sound
The music sounds quite like space ambient, giving it a very relaxing power. It would have been nice though if there was some more variation, as after a while you will notice that the same music keeps being played over and over again. Nonetheless, the music adds a lot to the overall atmosphere. Whenever you place a piece or rotate it, you will hear a clicking sound, which definitely comes in handy, as it ensures you that you put the piece in the right spot, yet it would have been appreciated if you could adjust the volume to your own liking. As it is, you can only adjust the general volume, which affects both the music and the clicks, but you can’t switch off just one.
Gameplay
As the name would suggest, Pixel Puzzles 2: Space is a puzzle game, which can be taken quite literally, since you will actually need to puzzle the pieces together to obtain a beautiful picture. These pieces are floating all around the board, and you will have to pick them up and position them in the right spot. The controls are quite simple and mostly just speak for themselves.
You’ll have to place all pieces one by one, but there are some hacks to make it a tad easier. First of all, pieces lock in place whenever you put them in the right angle and close enough to the right spot. Secondly, if that doesn’t help you enough, you can launch satellites into space. There are three kinds of satellites, each with different powers, but you will probably only use two, since the third one is rather useless. The best satellites to launch are either the ones that give you an oversight of the complete picture you will have to piece together, or the ones that will give you the exact location for the piece you are currently holding. To activate these satellites, you have to load the launcher with payloads. Depending on the launcher, you will activate a different power. You do have to be thoughtful before launching one though, since it will compromise your ability to build a rocket, which can get the spaceman home. In order to successfully build the rocket, you need all payloads, thus you have to choose between the rocket and extra help from the satellites. That choice is not such a hard one, since the only thing you really accomplish by building a rocket, is that you will achieve an extra ‘launch completion’, next to the ‘puzzle completion’. Lastly, there is also a sorting tray on which you can lay your pieces, making sure that they don’t float away while you’re busy with something else.
Conclusion
Even though the puzzles themselves look nice, the surroundings don’t seem to be worked out that much. There is no particular advantage or disadvantage to rescuing the spaceman, and the satellites do help a bit, but don’t do wonders either. If you love your actual physical puzzles, this might be a fun game to play, as you don’t have to worry about losing a piece, but if you’re looking for a bit more than just putting the pieces together, you will be sadly disappointed.
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