Puzzle Mania: Chronicles of Unicorn 1.3

Good morning everyone,

It occurred to me that we haven't had a game in a while, so I've chosen Puzzle Mania for you today. The annoying thing about having to do manual jigsaw puzzles, is that you have to keep all the pieces laid out once you've begun and hope to high heavens that no-one else in the house jogs it off the table by mistake.

Personally, I used to value my puzzles so much, that I used to keep a part completed jigsaw puzzle under my bed for protection when I wasn't using it.

Publisher: Elefun Games

Supported Languages: English

System Requirements: Windows ME/2000/XP/VISTA

Additional Requirements: Processor: 800MHz (or faster;) RAM: 128; Video card: 16MB Video Card

Tested on: Windows XP Pro.

The edges of the puzzle pieces used in Puzzle Mania, often change design, from simple (early in the game,) to more challenging as the player proceeds. An exciting element of the game, is that with 300 puzzles, they never repeat throughout the entire game.

Graphics:

It probably doesn't show as well in the screen shots, but the graphics are just gorgeous. The colors have been designed well in the scenery, especially for skies, flowers and trees, all of which can stump you for a short while - but not for so long that frustration sets in.

The game definitely presents itself in a fantasy setting, that is probably more appreciated by the fairer sex, than by the stronger sex, whom I'm sure would prefer something like the inside of an engine or a computer chip for a jigsaw design! ;)

One of my favorite scenes shows multicolored butterflies flitting across the screen over a field of exquisitely colored wildflowers. Think you can put all those butterflies and flowers in the right place, fast? Think again, this particular one had me going for a good 35 minutes.

The animation is good in some places and not so good in others. Eg., in the opening graphic, the waterfall and lake behind the unicorn, is lovely and seems to be animated well, while the plants in the foreground could use a little more work.

I'm sure the graphic artist had intended for the plants to be gently swaying in a breeze, when in fact they look as they might be moving sideways instead. This is no big deal, since I really only noticed this when doing the review and seriously studying the graphics. As I said earlier, the graphics are just gorgeous.

Settings/Options:

The opening scene shows you that the unicorn resides on a spectacularly beautiful island, from which all the puzzle pieces will originate. It's as if someone has traveled around the island taking these beautiful snapshots of fantasy scenes. (See the first graphic in this review.)

The links on this page include: Start; High Scores; Options; Change Player; Show the Place; Credits and Exit. The only one that needs explaining is Show the Place. Choosing this link, causes all the peripheral decorations to disappear off the screen, including the text - so that you can really see how beautiful the island is without any obstructions. Pretty cool idea actually.

The options themselves, include individual music sliders for both music and sound; video mode allows you to change the (preset) resolution from 640x480 up to 1024x768. You also have a choice whether to play the game in window or full screen mode.

I've used both, but have stayed with full screen mode, since it seems to immerse you in the scenes a little more fully.

Gaming area

At the beginning of each jigsaw, you can see a muted picture of the end result. You'd think this would help you enormously, but it doesn't really. You have no indication of what the colors should be at all. For example; the one I'm working on for this review, has a completely olive colored background, even though it shows the scene.

You can really only make use of knowing where the mountain is (big deal! ;) where the grass and plants are etc. You'll still have to work the jigsaw out the way you normally would. At least with the box tops on manual jigsaws, you can see the full picture with colors!

When you begin, a string of small jigsaw pieces (from top left,) enters the gaming area and follows a anti-clockwise path around the outside of the puzzle area, till it reaches the end. (top right.) Each time you use a piece, another one will enter the area from top right. So you do not have all the puzzle pieces out at once, which definitely adds to the difficulty.

Unique (as far as I know,) to this game, is the fact that the puzzle pieces themselves change shape with various levels. The pieces that extend out from the puzzle pieces can sometimes look bizarre to say the least, but are still a lot of fun to use.

Game play:

There is a little back story to the game, which doesn't interfere with the playing of the game. Sometimes I think back stories on games just go on for far too long, and find the gamer wishing he could just get on the with the game.

There are two game modes that you can play. You can choose to play a more competitive game where the pieces enter in the same way, but there is a hole at the end, where the puzzle pieces are not allowed to enter. If you cannot place enough pieces to keep the string of jigsaws from disappearing down the hole - you've lost.

Relaxed mode is very enjoyable, if you simply want to relax. You can take all the time you want, as there is no hole.

As you pick up one of the small pieces, it immediately enlarges to the size it's meant to be. Having the smaller sizes around the edge of the playing area, allows more pieces to be visible to you at once, however, it also makes it more difficult to judge where each jigsaw should be placed until you actually pick it up.

To let go of a piece you don't want, simply right click.

As the levels become harder, some puzzle areas on the board (see left,) become black holes. When you find their pieces, they just drop through and have no points value to you at all. Fill in all the other areas first, then the holes will fill in with the muted background again and you can place the puzzle pieces successfully.

You can also win tips and magnets. As you can see in the two images, one is represented by a magnet; the tips, by a circle. If you can place pieces where these appear, it can help you tremendously.

However, there is one catch - if you don't get to them in time, they move around or disappear altogether!

Bonus Rounds:

I'm not going to explain these for you. It'll be nice for you to experience something that I haven't described. I will however, give you this sneak peek. ;)

Music:

The music is perfect for this kind of game play! It's serene and has the ability to amplify your focus. The main instrument used, sounds to me like a merimba, but it could also be a xylophone or a glockenspiel, since all three are similar percussion instruments.

Help File:

I couldn't find one, either within the game or on the publisher's web site. But seriously, how difficult could it be to learn to put an electronic jigsaw together? You don't need to know anything else before playing, since you learn something new when its ready to be shown.

However, a good feature for children, is that the game does show you a little video of how to pick the pieces up in the beginning. If you feel that you still need to know a little more, here's another video that I found on Big Fish.

Features:

• Gorgeous graphics;
• NO repetition;
• Good music;
• Return playability.
• For adults or children.
  

Negatives: None.

Originality: 8/10
Game intuitiveness: 10/10
Features: 8/10
Fun factor 8/10

Price: USD$19.95

Considering that you can pay up to around $80.00 for one quality wooden puzzle, I think $20.00 for 300 electronic puzzles is well worth it.

Summary:

With repetition eliminated, there will be plenty to keep the gamer coming back to Puzzle Mania for more. Children of around 9-11 should be able to get through the initial few puzzles without any problems, but as they proceed, they will probably need a parent's assistance.

Playing Puzzle Mania, would be a great way to teach children about spatial relationships, not to mention that it could also increase their attention span. This might even be a good exercise for those children diagnosed with ADD. It might be a great question for a parent to ask their specialist, next time their ADD child needs to see him/her.

For adult gamers, if you prefer to be truly challenged, the competitive choice is the way to go, rather than choosing the relaxed mode - I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Recommendation:

I think it's obvious by now that I definitely do recommend Puzzle Mania. I've played it for weeks and I still keep coming back for more. With Christmas coming up, this would be a great gift for anyone in the family that enjoys jigsaw puzzles.

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“The day will come when machines and software will tell us whom to know; what to eat; what to wear; when to go to work and what profession to pursue; when to sleep; what entertainments to enjoy and with whom to have any kind of relationship. It can’t be avoided and you will succumb.”
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