It’s no mystery that I’m a fan of casual gaming. So I was excited when recently I was given a copy of Mr. Puzzle Genius 3D Puzzle for iPhone. This game looked like it might be a real challenge with possibly lasting play value. So did it hold up to the hype? Let’s take a look…
In this game, you have a 3 by 3 by 3 cube and you are given a pattern to match. Your job is simple – by rotating your view, together with the various 2D views, you have to fill in the blocks until you match the original pattern which is represented as 3 different 2D views at the top of the game screen. In reality, it’s actually a bit harder than it sounds because you also need to determine what’s in some of the areas that are obscured from view as well in order to complete the pattern.
You have a variety of controls to help you view and fill in (or remove) each block, and take a look at things from a variety of views (2D and 3D), and you have a special button to select the center block as well.
I found the gameplay to be fun enough, but the puzzles got progressively harder pretty quickly. The overall approach is pretty clever, but it didn’t hold my attention as well as I had hoped it would. I found myself starting to think that every puzzle looked just like the one before it. I kept thinking it would be nice if there was an underlying story line or a variety of shapes or anything to change things up a little bit.
What I liked: The initial screen banter is clever and appealing, but it didn’t carry through enough. There is a really nice tutorial to help explain the game controls. This is really useful, even though the game controls are pretty straightforward.
What Could Be Improved: I would have liked to have seen more variety or storyline to help break things up a bit. I’d also like to be able to customize the colors used.
Overall: If you are a big fan of brain teaser puzzles, this might hold your attention for a while, but if you are a casual gamer like me, you might find your attention wandering a little sooner than you expected. Though some of the game elements are clever, there weren’t enough of them to keep my attention for a long period of time. I think the game is on the right track, but it was still wanting of a just a little more to turn it into a casual gamer with lasting appeal.
Mr. Puzzle Genius 3D Puzzle for iPhone is Available at the AppStore for $1.99 and there is also a Lite version available for free so you can check it out and see if it’s up your alley!
