Puzzle Paint is an iPod Touch and iPhone app with a challenging new gameplay. There have been plenty of block based games, but Puzzle Paint is different because as the challenge progresses, you have to keep track of multiple color balls responding to the same controls. Not only does this provide logistical difficulty, but you need to know which colors combine to create the various colors.

The Game Play

Puzzle Paint is a bit easy to begin. This is intentional, but takes a little bit of time to get through each training course. First you learn the structure of the game with levels that combine various heights, color balls responding to your controls, as well as the two control choices.

Puzzle Paint references old-school games. In the first control mode, you move the color ball by turning the phone. When I say old-school reference, I mean 1950′s. My dad had pocket games where you roll a ball into a whole by balancing and turning the board in different directions. Puzzle Paint takes off of this idea. As you progress, you have the option to tap the screen instead of tilt the iPhone. In the directions, it directly says that this is most players’ preferred control choice, and I would have to agree. The tilt gameplay feels rushed to me as you must immediately tilt the iPhone back to the neutral position so that you don’t move unintentionally.

Levels

Puzzle Paint goes from zero to sixty quickly. The training levels are simple, but once you are given a choice as to the low road or the high road (their verbage, not mine), you are brought into very difficult puzzles. Many of these were too tricky for me initially and I was unable to finish them (let’s be honest, I’ve gone back and still can’t figure some out). This isn’t to say that they’re impossible, because you can track your progress. As you play through a level, you are given a percentage of it complete. Many of the levels hinge on Aha! moments (my verbage). Sometimes I’m just not Aha! worthy though.

Good

• Challenging levels
• Gameplay in general
• Two control methods
• Logic based gameplay
• Various Game Modes
• 100+ levels increasing in difficulty
• Auto saves where you are for the next time you open the app.

Hope for the next version

• Lose the storyline.
• Provide the option for tips

The storyline is loose and frankly weird. An old master painter needs your help finishing a painting and the better score you get playing this game determines how likely people will think that your work is his… Um, right. This is a puzzle game. Please don’t try to be something you’re not. Or if you really want to be a storybased game, then create characters, a world for them to live in, and allow for choice and interaction. Until these things have been included, you’re wasting my time with a story.

As for tips, I am biased because I’m stuck on a few levels and have NO IDEA as to how to solve them. The thing I worry about with tips is making them too straight forward so that Aha! moments have died. Then we’d have to make an Aha! cemetery, and no body wants that.

Bottom Line

Puzzle Paint is fun and challenging. With the various control methods you can let everyone around know you’re playing a game by tilting the iPod every direction, or be discreet about it and tap to your heart’s content. The story is cheesy (as of now), but the game is addictive and worth trying out for a few levels. If you’re looking for a game for the bus, this is ideal.

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