Reviews

Astraware Roundup: Pixelus, Sudoku, and SuperSlyder

December 2, 2005

Pixelus

Pixelus is a themed “ancient world” puzzler that will challenge you more than just about any handheld game I can think of. This game isn’t a “button masher”—no worries about getting sore thumbs—but it will exercise your brain and challenge you to come up with clever solutions to some very difficult puzzles. The story behind the game is quite simple; you need to repair some mosaics that are missing a few tiles each. Sounds easy, but it isn’t—you slide the tiles from the edge of each picture, and you sometimes have to place temporary tiles to keep the pieces from sliding all the way off of the other edge of the playing field!

There’s a full tutorial that teaches you how to play the game, and since I’m not much on logic puzzles, I found even a few of those to be challenging. It’s a good thing that I didn’t choose Expert mode, because that means that you can get hints on each puzzle, or even see the entire solution if you give up and can’t solve a particular one. After you clear the first nine puzzles, you can choose another Temple to go to for more puzzles— there are over two hundred different puzzles in the game! After you complete each one, the picture is filled in for you so that you can see the whole mosaic. It’s fun to guess what each picture will be, and adds yet another layer to the gameplay. Once you move past the tutorial level, you’ll be awarded a medal for each puzzle you solve in the minimum number of moves. The results are displayed in each temple’s gallery, so you can go back and replay each puzzle until you get a medal for every one.

The graphics and character models are great, and the colors are all rich and vibrant. The sound effects are appropriate, though I found the background music to be a bit repetitive and not as good as some of the classic tunes in some of the other Astraware games, like Bejeweled. I think part of that opinion comes of the fact that it takes a long time to solve each puzzle, so the looping music can get old fairly quickly. Fortunately you can control the volume for the sound effects and music independently of each other, or mute everything if you wish.

Pixelus is one of the best games I’ve seen in quite a while in the logic/puzzle genre. It’s hard, but not too frustrating since you can “cheat” if you must. And while each puzzle is timed, there isn’t any penalty for taking too long; the goal is simply to do each one in the shortest amount of time possible. A color screen and Palm OS 5.0 or later is required for the Palm version, and the Windows Mobile version requires Pocket PC 2002 or later. If you think you’re up to the challenge, you can get a free trial of Pixelus, or purchase the full game for $19.95 at the Astraware online store.

Sudoku

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, then you already know about the latest logic game craze: Sudoku. Astraware’s version is simply one of the nicest I’ve seen, with loads of features that make it fun to play and much better than the newspaper experience. The object of the game is to get each row and column of the 9x9 grid completely filled in with numbers from one to nine, without repeating the same number twice in any row or column. It requires logic and skill, so thankfully there are six difficulty levels available: Beginner, Easy, Medium, Tricky, Fiendish, and Diabolical. I like the fact that no matter what your skill level (or frustration tolerance level!) you can play this game and have fun.

Once you install the game, you are presented with a brief tutorial that explains the rules of the game and also the special features. I already know how to play, but I found the tutorial to be valuable because I learned how to use all of the buttons and on screen controls in Astraware Sudoku. Most of the playing area is taken up by the number grid, so it’s big and easy to read. As with every Sudoku game, some of the numbers are already filled in to give you a head start. To place numbers in the grid, you just tap on the square (the row and column are shaded, so that you can easily see what other numbers have been used so you know which ones you might try. Tap on a number block to the right to enter the number. If you’re still trying to figure things out, you might use the “pencil marks” feature—tap on the square you want and then tap on the squares along the bottom of the playing field to put small numbers into the grid that represent all of the possibilities for that square. This feature really does help me figure things out, and it’s something that you simply couldn’t do with a paper Sudoku puzzle without making a big mess. Even better, you can turn on pencil marks by default, which would be a good option for younger gamers.

Prefer to hand write things in while you’re solving the puzzle? You can do that too. Just tap on the pencil icon at the bottom of the playing area, and you can scribble all over the grid. This feature is invaluable for some of the harder puzzles, since it allows you to think things through before you commit to each move. When in “scribble” mode, boxes on the right side of the screen allow you to switch between marking and erasing, and you can erase all of your scribbles with just one tap. Go back to the regular puzzle screen by tapping the small back arrow at the bottom of the screen.

I must admit that I have now become an official Sudoku addict, and it’s all to be blamed on Astraware Sudoku. I now long for that lovely “chime/gong” that sounds each time I properly fill in a row, column, or 3.3 square. A free trial is available, but trust me, if you like puzzle or logic games, you just need to go ahead and buy it—especially since it’s currently on sale for just $9.95 (regularly $19.95). Palm OS, Pocket PC, and Smartphone versions are available at the Astraware online store.

SuperSlyder

SuperSlyder is a logic game in the same vein as Pixelus, with a few extra twists. It’s built on the same “sliding” concept, only this time instead of completing mosaic portraits you’re trying to get a cute little guy named Slyder to the goal on each level. Watch out though, because this game is even trickier than Pixelus due to the pits, ledges, and enemies that populate each level.Thankfully there are a few friends to help you along the way, like bubblegum that will stick you to the floor (a good thing in the game because it can stop you before you fall into a pit) and characters like Boffo who try to help you out. The graphics and music are fun and right on the money; if you like Pixelus or any “Marble Madness” then SuperSlyder would be another great choice.

The puzzles are hard but a brief tutorial precedes each level where a new character or gameplay element is introduced, and you aren’t limited to a certain number of “lives” which is a good thing. There are plenty of hazards out there in SuperSlyder land, and if you don’t think each puzzle through before you start making your moves, you’ll find yourself falling down a pit or being hurt by an enemy, after which you get to see a brief animation of Slyder’s soul ascending to heaven in angelic form. SuperSlyder is available for Palm OS, Pocket PC, and Windows Mobile Smartphone for $19.95 at the Astraware online store.

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