Pic-a-Pix Colour Mini Review

For those familiar with Jupiter Corporation’s Picross series, Pic-a-Pix follows it for the most part, but has a more “colourful” journey.

The puzzles themselves come from Conceptis Ltd who designed and supplied the puzzles to Lightwood Games to use in the game. There are 150 puzzles to choose from, in different grids starting from 5×5 to 20×20.

Pic-a-Pix Colour works pretty much like Picross in that you start out with a blank grid and numbers at the edge of each row and column indicate how many squares should be filled in which at the end will reveal what the picture was. The one major difference is that you have blocks on the rows/columns telling you which colours to fill in as opposed to just black like in Picross.

The main menu has three options; Play, Extra and Info. Info is the most useful for newcomers to the genre and explains how to solve the puzzles using a step by step guide. This is a good way to explain things for those that need it and not bombard experts with forced tutorials.

It’s a PLANE!!

Players have the ability to check if there are any errors in the puzzles and have the option to fix them, although at a cost of not getting a medal at completion but that can be fixed by completed the puzzle again without using the fix feature.

Only the bottom screen is used for gameplay with the top screen used for the time, although on larger grids the numbers on the top edge are on the top screen. There is no 3D feature in this game, although since the top being hardly used it is not considered a necessary addition. The puzzles and backgrounds look basic yet do the job required however some 3D would have been nice for the finished puzzles like in Picross E and 3D/2.

There are two ways to play this game either by stylus or using the buttons. After trying both modes I would go with the stylus as it is quicker and more comfortable to use, although the button mode does come in handy for the bigger puzzles when precision is especially needed and the stylus can be awkward. The music is on a loop and gets tedious after a while, although this seems to be a pattern with most puzzle games so it isn’t exactly a surprise.

Lightwood have even gone on the DLC route with releasing three packs at £1.99 each and you get 30-45 extra puzzles in each DLC pack. These packs can be found on the extra button in main menu.

This is a good way to extend the game without having to buy another game in the future like the Picross E series have been accused of doing.

Pic-a-Pix Colour is a interesting variation to Picross with the colour blocks, but mostly the same formula gameplay-wise so fans of this genre will appreciate Pic-a-Pix Colour.

It is out now in Europe and expected to come out this month in North America.

Pros:

• Good range of puzzles
• Good mix to the Picross formula.
• DLC option is useful.
• Step-by-step guide great for beginners.

Cons:

• Music goes on a loop.
• Background looks basic.
• Larger puzzles feel cramped on the bottom screen

Score: 7/10

Pic-A-Pix Colour is £4.50 (UK) $5.00 (US) €5.00 (EU) on the eShop

Visit Lightwood Games’ website: http://www.lightwoodgames.com

Categories: Articles, Home

Tags: 3ds, lightwood games, pic-a-pix-colour, picross

This post was written by Cyburn, posted on April 6, 2017 Thursday at 4:20 pm