My Review of Pixelus

One of my favorite family activities that I did growing up was putting together puzzles. We would set up a table or use our family’s dinner table and together we would put the puzzle together. It would take several weeks as we had many things going on, but piece by piece it would get done. After finishing the puzzle, we would leave it out for a couple days to see our work in its completed glory. It is probably from those days of putting together puzzles, that I have become a huge puzzle game fan. The harder the puzzle the more excited I get about solving it. I don’t mind the time or the difficulties; I will somehow find the solution.
Bring on Pixelus from Astraware and its over 200 puzzles with a fun story line, excellent graphics, and a soundtrack, I have found myself once again immersed into another puzzle game and having a hard time pulling myself away from it.

The story behind the puzzles!

Pixelus has an entertaining storyline with the game as well. You must help Claudius escape the island of Pixelus and to do so you must please the mythical Greek gods by replacing missing tiles from their mosaic floors. As you complete more of these puzzles, you will unlock more places to go and repair floors. Ultimately, you want to get to Jupiter’s temple in hopes of repairing his floors and getting off the island! If you have ever read Greek mythology or seen movies of it (my favorite is Jason and the Argonauts, the old version), you will see several of the Greek characters from those stories during the game. Astraware also includes a great soundtrack to keep you humming along as you repair the floors. All in all, the storyline is fun and amusing. It kind of keeps you going even when you’re stuck!

The puzzles behind the story!

You begin the game with Pixelus’ tutorial which is quite helpful in getting you started and quite fun too as you are instructed by a cyclops. After helping and learning from him, you will move on to Flora’s temple and begin your journey to get off the island. Right now, I am at Neptune’s Temple and have completed 22 out of 201 puzzles. As I have progressed the puzzles have increased in their difficulty and have been quite challenging!
As you begin the game you can choose to play in the expert mode (which doesn’t allow for undos or hints) or you can play in normal mode which allows for undos and hints. The reason for the undos is to allow you to correct mistakes you make while you are working on a puzzle. You see, you want to complete the puzzles in as little time and moves as possible as you will be rewarded with gold, silver, or bronze medal for your skills (you can even score a no medal ). As the puzzles increase in their difficulty, you will find yourself learning new tricks and looking for other ways to conserve your moves.
I loved the fact that the puzzles became more difficult to complete. This means you will not finish the game in just a few days, of course unless you are a super genius or something. ;) The best part is that even a novice puzzle player and can learn and master this game. It might take some time, but think of poor Claudius still being stuck on the island of Pixelus. Someone’s got to help him!

Conclusion:

Pixelus is another great puzzle game from Astraware with a fun storyline, amazing graphics, and challenging puzzles. This makes it a real winner for a puzzle lover! It’s a game that is sure to stay on your palm device and for me, brings back memories of my puzzle putting together with my family! All the more reason I like this game. Pixelus sells for only $19.95 and is available over at the Astraware store. Don’t forget to also check out Club Astraware as well.

Joshua Burdick – Associate Writer (Buffalo, NY, USA)