Pixel Puzzles: UndeadZ – Review
Between AAA game releases, there are always enough smaller games that fly under the radar. Pixel Puzzles: UndeadZ is one of those games but if you like to puzzle; it might be worth checking out.
Story
The game doesn’t feature any kind of storyline, so there’s really nothing to say here.
Graphics
Graphically, the game is very simple as you’ll only see puzzle pictures and some pixilated zombies running towards your character at the bottom of the screen. The puzzle images are detailed and some have a rather unique look which provides variation. The developers of the game clearly weren’t afraid to use a lot of blood and gore in Pixel Puzzles: UndeadZ and that’s certainly praiseworthy.
Thanks to the varied color palette and certain details used in the images, puzzling them together is not impossible as you’ll have enough recognition points. No fields of white and black here, luckily!
Sound
The soundtrack is quite simple and not very noticeable while playing. It does bring a nice feel to the zombie theme but some more tracks would’ve been welcome.
Occasionally, zombies might make a crackling moan or scream and while it sounds okay, it’s mostly useful for knowing if zombies are approaching or not so you can get your defenses set up in time.
Gameplay
The goal of Pixel Puzzles: UndeadZ is pretty straightforward as you’ll be putting together the pieces of an image most of the time. However, there is another dimension to it as, while you’re busy puzzling, zombies will start to pop up on the bottom of your screen. This is where things get interesting. While puzzling, players will also control a character with the keyboard and try to fend off the zombies that come running towards you.
Apart from shooting them down with a gun, there’s also the possibility to buy mines, barricades and grenades. All these tools give the player some more breathing space to complete to puzzle but it’s a fact that you won’t have the luxury to slack off. A constant time pressure keeps you on your toes. Naturally, you can’t just spam the screen with barricades and mines. You’ll have to buy them using Zombucks, the currency used in the game. As you’re fitting pieces together, sometimes you’ll receive some Zombucks which you can invest in equipment.
The beauty of all that rushed gameplay is that you actually start to become better and better at puzzling. In the beginning, I was way too slow and I just randomly tried to fit pieces together which ended up in me being overrun by zombies. However, after a while, I worked out a system and it all became much smoother. It’s great to see how completing a jigsaw puzzle can turn from a dull and boring task (for some) into a challenging and fast-paced experience.
What would’ve made this game a more long lasting one, is some more game modes. Now you can either choose to play with zombies enabled (which is certainly the most recommendable one as it makes the game much more exciting), or disabled. Maybe a variation of zombie types would’ve given Pixel Puzzles: UndeadZ some extra depth, or, for the hardcore gamers among us, a mode where zombies continuously attack instead of just the moments when time runs out.
Besides that, it often occurred that zombies were bugged and wouldn’t move forward. As zombies are part of the core gameplay of Pixel Puzzles: UndeadZ, that shouldn’t happen.
Conclusion
For the price, Pixel Puzzles: UndeadZ is a fun game to play for a couple of minutes at a time. The attacking zombies make you use that grey mass in your head at incredible pace and it’s great to see how your puzzle skills improve over time. Some more game modes would’ve been nice but for the small price, it’s certainly worth playing in between “bigger” games.
Pixel Puzzles: UndeadZ - Review,
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[…] the past, we’ve already talked about Pixel Puzzles: Undeadz, a pretty fun puzzle game with an undead twist. Today, we’re going to talk a bit more about Pixel […]