25th Feb2019

Digital Shorts: ‘Piczle Colors’ (Nintendo Switch)

by Phil Wheat

In DIGITAL SHORTS we review some of the latest video games that are only available digitally (at least in the UK), in a short-form review format. In this edition we take a look at Piczle Colors, the latest “Piczle” game to come to the Nintendo Switch.

piczle-colors-screen

From Score Studios, who brought Piczle Lines DX to the Switch in 2017, comes the highly anticipated follow-up, Piczle Colors – another single player logic-puzzle game that features 6 levels with 50 puzzles each, with grids ranging in size from 5×5 to 15×10. Each puzzle lets you start with a randomly cleared row and column if you need a helping hand, but clearing puzzles without using hints earns you coins, which you can use to unlock Piczle Colors’ extra features.

The story goes that inventive genius professor Matrix has created a paint, Piczle Paint 3000, that can leech the color out of anything it covers. Needless to say his inventions, including this one, are not safe in the hands of Score-chan – Score Studios’ mascot and the cause of all the mischief the prof’s inventions wreak. This, in turn, explains the premise of the gameplay: hints next to each row and above each column tell you how many blocks of each color go in each row or column. By following these hints you can paint each part of the grid and reveal an image. However, these hints do NOT tell you the order they come in!

And that is basically it. Each level varies in difficulty, some taking seconds to complete while others up to a minute or more, with the later levels increasing in both grid size and complexity. The controls are fairly easy to get used to, with touchscreen in handheld mode being best, and other controllers being possible during TV or tabletop play.

As long as you enjoy the base gameplay, then Piczle Colors only has one real problem, which is that some of the pixel-art puzzles look absolutely NOTHING like what they are supposed to! But given that for the most part you’ll be creating the images based on the hint numbers rather than any idea what the finished image will be it’s a small quibble.

At just a tenner, Piczle Colors offers fairly good value for a simple puzzle game. There’s no multiplayer, though its difficult to see how one would be implemented, yet this entry in the Piczle franchise – thanks to several secrets and extras that you can unlock by completing more stages – definitely gives you your money’s worth, especially when compared to its predecessor.

Piczle Colors is available in the Nintendo eShop now from Rainy Frog.

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