Pixel Puzzles 2: Anime

Developer: Decaying Logic | Publisher: KISS ltd | Release Date: 2015 | Genre: Indie / Casual / Simulation / Strategy | Website: Official Website | Format: Digital Download

Hot on the heels of their avian themed jigsaw puzzle title, Decaying Logic is back with something that is sure to please anime fans. This fourth installment of the popular series runs on the same engine as Pixel Puzzles 2: Birds, but features 25 brand new hand drawn anime images for the puzzles. Other than that it is business as usual, so players who love digital jigsaw puzzles will find plenty to enjoy here.

As with Birds you are given a board in the middle of the screen and puzzle pieces floating all around it. Puzzles range from 60 to 350 pieces, which means that on the bigger puzzles the individual pieces can be tiny. You can however zoom in for a closer look and a bottom tray is also available at the tap of a button if you want to sort the pieces. In addition, the background color of the board can be changed to provide better contrast and overall the interface works well.

Those who played Pixel Puzzles 2: Birds will remember the inclusion of tiny crabs scuttling all over the board when pieces were placed. Although these were helpful because they could be used to activate power-ups it did become a bit of a chore to continually pick them up and dump them in a basket. This time round the developers opted for a very excitable fairy hovering around and showering you with magical dust. She’ll reward you with dust for putting together pieces or randomly dole out smaller quantities on a whim. The dust goes into a meter on the left side of the screen and can be used to activate specific power-ups. The power-ups are the same as in the previous game and allows you to either rotate a specific piece into the correct orientation, briefly view a ghostly image of the completed puzzle or see exactly where a selected piece goes on the board. The power-ups make things a lot easier, especially on the larger puzzles, but comes at a cost.

As helpful as the Pixel Pixie is, she never stops chattering. Initially it is quite charming to hear her excitedly praise you for simply putting together pieces, but after a couple of hours it becomes a bit much. The voice actress certainly didn’t’ do a bad job with the character, but there are only so many times a person can hear the same lines shouted out excitedly before it becomes grating. Thankfully the developers listened to feedback and the fairy can now be dismissed with a tap of the “delete” button. The music fares a bit better with some nice background tunes to enjoy while you play.

Anyone who enjoys real jigsaw puzzles should enjoy Pixel Puzzles 2: Anime as it stays true to the traditional style. Pieces are clicked and dragged on to the board and must be into the correct orientation before being placed. As long as a piece is placed near the correct spot and oriented the right way it will snap into place. Unlike traditional jigsaw puzzle pieces, the pieces in this game features all kinds of unique shapes which makes things a little bit more challenging. Don’t worry if you can’t complete a puzzle in a single sitting though as the game now auto-saves whenever you exit.

One of the most important elements of a jigsaw puzzle game is obviously the pictures and Anime doesn’t disappoint. The 25 puzzles on offer feature illustrations by Godley Malabanan and Jason Cheng who both did a great job. Each illustration is packed with detail and all of them make for great jigsaw puzzles. The images can all be checked out in the “Gallery” mode if you can stomach the incessant squealing from the fairy about “spoiling” the surprise. Since the game runs on the same engine as Pixel Puzzles 2: Birds the available options are once again restricted to playing in full screen or windowed modes, enabling Vsync and activating “HD” mode. Still the game should run on even a modest PC and you still have the advantage of not losing any puzzle pieces or having to sacrifice valuable table space just to play. It will probably garner a lot less frowns from co-workers if played during a lunch break than attempting to do so with a real jigsaw puzzle too!

Pixel Puzzles 2: Anime is another great entry in the series and the anime theme will probably also appeal to a bigger audience than the birds did. If you have already played through all the puzzles in the previous game don’t hesitate to pick up this title as it offers more of the same addictive entertainment