As more and more of my students get iPhones, they become a greater source of apps. At first, they asked me about games and apps they should get but now they are slowly beginning to share their findings with me. Last week I walked into my second period American History class with four students standing at my desk. They excitedly told me I must download Torect Free on my phone. They explained that all of them were highly addicted to the puzzle game. One of the young men handed me his phone and said he was stumped. I solved the puzzle and knew I must download the game to check it out for myself. I also discovered that solving the puzzle that quickly was beginner’s luck!
Torect Free is a puzzle game where random pieces (that will look similar to Tetris pieces) are fit together to form a rectangle. The kicker is that the pieces may not be rotated or changed, just moved around the board. Check out the full review after the break.
Torect Free is a simple game that requires great thought. Each level will present a number of puzzle pieces in random order. As I said earlier, the pieces will remind you of Tetris, but they are unable to rotate and do not fall from the top. Slide the pieces around the board freely to build a rectangle and the level ends and the next one loads. That is it! Simple right? Well, not exactly.
One of my students was already on level 200 when I was shown the game and had sat up to complete 180 levels the night before. He bought the $.99 version the next day which includes 1000 levels. I am only around level 25 so the free 200 levels are still fine for me at this time. The crazy thing about the game is how each person will solve a level and see it so differently. Someone will have a level that is driving them crazy and I’ll grab their phone and solve it in less than a minute. Then I’ll have a puzzle that I absolutely cannot solve only to have the same person solve my puzzle in less than a minute. My theory is that the player’s first attempt stays in their mind making it difficult to start over completely fresh.
One key I have found is to figure out if the rectangle should be long way or tall. Once the direction to build is discovered, the puzzles seem to be solved much faster. If a puzzle completely has you stumped, click on the information button and reset the level. This will put all of the pieces back to their original position and help clear your mind to take a different approach. If all else fails, exit the game and come back later. Especially after playing a large number of levels in a row, this strategy helps me to get moving when I am stuck.
Torect Free will include 300 mind bending levels. If you blow through the levels too fast, purchase the paid version for $.99 to get 1000 levels. You can get the game here in the app store for free.
What I like: Simple gameplay that requires analytic thinking. I also like that the game autosaves each level.
What could use improvement: Actually, simple is best in this form factor. I like it.