Reviews

Chuzzle

December 15, 2005

Any time I get a press release from Astraware, I know that I can just ignore my task list for at least a day, if not longer—their games are just so engaging they’re almost impossible to put down. The latest one is Chuzzle, and I haven’t been able to get anything done for a whole week now, since I was lucky enough to get my hands on a special preview version. I keep finding myself saying “just one more game” until the battery on my LifeDrive dies completely… .

Why am I so hooked? A large part of it is the Chuzzles themselves—they’re just impossibly cute, no other word can describe these lovable characters. Unlike most puzzle games, where you’re just moving around blocks or gems or some other inanimate object, Chuzzles actually have some personality. They often blink at you, just like they’re waiting for you to make your next move. Poke one, and maybe it will wiggle a bit and sneeze, or giggle, or say a cute little phrase in gibberish. Leave the game alone for a while, and you’ll find that most of the Chuzzles will actually go to sleep! They come in a variety of colors, including red, orange, green, yellow, white, two shades of blue (baby and navy), purple, and even rainbow colored. They also come in different sizes, regular or giant. In a word, these cute little warm fuzzies will have you interacting, instead of just blindly shoving blocks from one place to the other.

At its core, Chuzzle is a devilishly addictive and tricky little puzzle game. After viewing the tutorial, some may have visions of Bejeweled, because the object is to match three or more Chuzzles of the same color in order to make them disappear from the playing field. It’s more challenging than that game though, since you’re required to move an entire row or column at a time, not one individual Chuzzle. You have to think outside the box a little, and get used to thinking about things in a different way. At first I was a bit frustrated, but then I was utterly charmed by how my puzzle-solving skills advanced after a short amount of time. The better you get, the more you can plan ahead, and the larger the combos you can create.

There are four different game modes, meaning that you can play a regular game (Classic), a frantic game (Speed), an untimed relaxing game (Zen), or a deeply challenging puzzle game (Mind Bender). Classic and Speed games have two difficulty options, casual or expert. In either case, the game ends when there are no more moves available. Fortunately you get two “Scrambles” when you start a game, meaning that if there are no moves left you have two chances to reshuffle the playing field and keep going. Speed Chuzzle is fun, but you have to be fast—if you don’t keep making triplets and popping the Chuzzles fast enough to clear the playing field, you’ll find that certain Chuzzles get “locked” into position, meaning that you can’t move certain rows and columns. This adds a whole new level of challenge to the game, and requires quick but careful thinking.

Mind Bender is quickly becoming my favorite mode. The object here is to move the Chuzzles into a specific pattern that matches the illustration show at the beginning of each puzzle. Instead of moving freely, the rows and columns move one step at a time, and you have to plan carefully in order to make things turn out right. The first few puzzles are very easy, but the difficulty level ramps up quickly. There are several puzzles in each level, and since there aren’t any hints available for these you figure out the secret in order to move on. There’s no undo feature, but you can tap on the puzzle illustration on the left side of the screen to be taken back to the opening position, which is very handy when you make mistakes!

The graphics are of course top notch, though if you have the screen brightness turned down on your device to conserve battery life, you may have a little trouble distinguishing the red Chuzzles from the orange ones. The background music is catching, fast, and fun, and the sound effects are simply wonderful. A high score table is kept for the Classic, Speed, and Zen modes, and you can export your high scores to the Astraware web site if you want to compare your achievements with other players. One of the coolest things though is the Trophy Room—you’re awarded special trophies for particular accomplishments, such as playing an entire game without using hints, making a triple combo, etc. There are two full screens in the Trophy Room, and so far I’ve only been able to win five trophies. Guess that means I need to keep playing… . One last thing to note—Astraware says that you can unlock a special “BeChuzzled” game. I’m not exactly sure how that works, since I haven’t been able to do it yet, but I’m really looking forward to playing a Bejeweled style game with those cute little Chuzzles.

Chuzzle is available for Palm OS and Pocket PC devices, and I recommend it highly for puzzle and arcade game fans. The different modes offer plenty of variety, and the Chuzzles are just too cute for words: how could you possibly say now? Download a free trial at the Astraware web site, or register your own copy (which is required to play the Zen and Mind Bender modes) for only $14.95 (normally $19.95).

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