Puzzle Box

Edit (8/2/17): After some discussion with the kind developer, I feel obligated to point out that, while I stand by the following review from an adult's perspective, children might get more enjoyment out of the game for some of the reasons I dislike it. If you are unsure if you or a child you have in mind would enjoy the game, try the demo. PROS: *Performance is fine CONS: *Tedious *Simplistic *Unrewarding *No new mechanics or development over time *Seemingly absent difficulty curve: levels in area 5 may as well be levels in area 1 and vice versa, with only very rare exceptions outside the DLC *Too small a variety of minigames, given how simple they all are *One minigame is buggy *Overpriced GAME LENGTH: The base game can be completed to perfection in around 6 hours. The $4 DLC pack adds another 5 levels, some of which are "extra large," so expect to play another 3-5 hours. SCORE: 1/10 That score may seem harsh, but this has been one of the most joyless experiences in my years of gaming. Since most of the game does require the player's attention, I can't even really treat it as something to do while I'm watching TV. Puzzle Box features 6 minigames, some of which are initially "locked." This design choice is a bit strange, since they are all unlocked somewhere around the third area, leaving no rewards for the rest of the game. I will address the minigames in order: 1.) Color-coordinated block dropping on a still screen with a timer 2.) Color-coordinated block dropping on a side-scrolling screen with a timer 3.) Destroying a block shape with bombs 4.) A platformer in which the player must collect butterflies, avoid enemies, and get a dog to food 5.) A runner/platformer in which the player must collect 10 coins 6.) Collecting coins with a floating vending machine claw while avoiding flying gears -- The block-dropping minigames are pretty much the same except for the increased chance of failure in the side-scrolling version. The player gets up to 4 colors of blocks (assigned to WASD or accessible through mouse scrolling) to drop in the right order. Perfecting these levels for achievements and coins to unlock new areas simply requires accuracy. Each area of the game features 2-8 of these games, so they make up the bulk of the gameplay. The problems: These minigames just aren't very fun to play, especially when the levels don't ever present any new mechanics or increase in difficulty much--at least not consistently.* It is very difficult to fail them and even to fail to perfect them, as the game is rather forgiving about mistakes. On top of being tedious, easy, and undeveloped, sometimes two or three of the colors that the player is given are very similar, which can cause some frustration. *Starting at area 11 (DLC levels only), extra large areas are introduced for the first kind of minigame. I suppose that this adds some difficulty, but the requirements for a perfect score are also made more lenient, so the two changes cancel each other out. -- The bomb-dropping minigame is exactly how it sounds: the player is given 3-4 bombs to drop from above some shape made of blocks. The player is rewarded with coins corresponding to the percentage of blocks he sends off screen. Perfection requires eliminating all of them. The problems: As with the first set of minigames, no new mechanics are ever introduced and the difficulty never increases. These games are literally over in seconds. Additionally, since it's probably impossible to actually eliminate all of the blocks, the game seems to grant 100% completion as soon as the player reaches 80%. -- The platformer minigame is probably the best part of the entire game, but it would still be a terrible standalone experience, even below the quality of many free platformers. The goal here is to navigate a stage and collect butterflies. Perfection requires collecting all of them, completing the stage within a par time (seems to be around 3 minutes across the board), and getting a dog first to some food, then to the exit. The problems: Only one new mechanic is ever introduced (bombs), but it shows up inconsistently and doesn't add much to the experience. These levels are generally easy, but very rarely a butterfly will be put in a dangerous location that requires an unusual degree of precision and timing to reach without being touched by an enemy. This feels inappropriate for the game, as the character handling is somewhat imprecise (floaty) and user-unfriendly (the player is often unable to look below to see if he is going to land on an enemy). Furthermore, I'm not sure what the additional requirement of feeding the dog adds to the game, since it can be saved until the end of the level, when the player is rewarded with invincibility and the timer stops. -- The runner minigame is one of the simplest: the player simply chooses when to jump (up to 5 times before landing) to keep moving and to collect coins. I have never failed one of these levels, but missing a few jumps in a row would presumably lead to death. In any case, the player gets to run the "track" two times, giving him a second chance to collect any coins he missed the first time. The problems: As usual: no new mechanics and no difficulty scaling. Additionally, the second lap seems pointless when the levels are so short (and so easily replayable) and the coins are so easy to collect. At the very least, the developers should have coded the level to end after the first lap if the player collects all the coins the first time around. -- The claw minigame is possibly the most tedious and frustrating of the group. The player is given a long stage and must collect 6 coins distributed across the ground with a claw and return them to "goals" while avoiding floating, sometimes moving gears that cause instant death. Perfection requires completing the level within the par time (seems to be 3 minutes across the board) and never dying. The problems: The claw is incredibly jerky and gets damaged even by touching walls, which is often unavoidable because of coin distribution and the terrible handling. Consequently, it is just about impossible to navigate [i]through[/i] the small spaces between gears, so the player either must (1) fly above them or (2) pick up the gears themselves and move them elsewhere. Both options are tedious and the second is somewhat unpredictable. Worse, both the player and the coins may bug out: the player may get stuck in the ground or ceiling and the coins may fly around, getting stuck in crevices. These are my least favorite levels by far. -- With such dreadful gameplay, I probably wouldn't give the game a much higher score even if it had amazing music or visuals. Still, it's worth mentioning that the music is repetitive and even sometimes obnoxious and the visuals, which you can see for yourself, are nothing impressive. Additionally, the level select screen is unpleasant to navigate because of mouse acceleration issues and I'm a bit annoyed that the game's title deceptively suggests that it contains puzzles. If I am totally honest, I would not have played this game for free if I had known exactly what I was getting, nor would I even recommend it to children, so $10 (and another $4 for 5 more stages) is a ridiculous asking price. I only play it now because I was well past the refund deadline by the time I started it and I don't value my time as much as I should. For its lack of any enjoyable gameplay, I give Puzzle Box a 1 out of 10.

[h1][b][u]Puzzle Box Review - Rating: 7.4/10[/u][/b][/h1] [h1][b]Basic Information[/b][/h1] [quote][list][*][b]Title:[/b] [i]Puzzle Box[/i] [*][b]Genres:[/b] [i]Action, Adventure, Casual, Indie & Strategy[/i] [*][b]Developer:[/b] [i]BplusGames[/i] [*][b]Publisher:[/b] [i]OtakuMaker.com[/i] [*][b]Release Date:[/b] [i]The 1st of April, 2016[/i][/list][/quote] [h1][b]General Impression[/b][/h1] [quote]Puzzle Box is a pretty nice combination of the action, adventure, casual and indie and strategy genres. The graphics are two-dimensional, in a platformer type, being simple and colorful, yet neat. The textures are clear and well-designed. The atmosphere varies between each map, where you basically have to fulfill with the required colors. There are 7 modes available, and each one of them will have a different way of displaying the atmosphere, and the size of it. From time to time, you will notice that some blocks have been already fulfilled. No worries, just keep fulfilling the required ones. In the foreground, there are some blocks which block you from continuing your trip. You must avoid them, in order to continue your trip. In the background, there is the sky. It won’t affect anything of the game. The audio is pretty nice, same for the soundtrack. Even though there could be more soundtracks for each mode. The gameplay is as simple as it following: reach the end of the map. In some modes, you will have to fulfill the squares while flying. In some modes, the map won’t be dynamic. In some modes, you have to jump throughout the map. The user interface is well-optimized, with no bugs and well-synthetized information. But, however, the main menu is a thing that is really great. You can splash bubbles just for fun, and you can also drive your bubble to the level and press “enter”. It’s a really well-designed menu, and dynamic as well. The controls are confusing, because you can use either the W, A, S and D buttons, the arrows or your mouse. So basically, you can choose what buttons you feel the most comfortable with, but I feel like 3 options is not needed at all, because some gamers might get confused of this fact. The engines are alright, I haven’t met any bugs, crashes, screen freezes or frame drops. The mechanics are pretty solid, I haven’t any glitches around them. Overall, it’s a pretty nice indie game, with two-dimensional graphics, simple and colorful, yet neat, tons of levels to explore, many modes available and even other nice features.[/quote] [h1][b]Positive Points[/b][/h1] [quote][list][*]Well designed graphics for a puzzle game [*]Dynamic and challenging atmosphere [*]Enjoyable and relaxing sounds [*]Relaxing, but in the same time, challenging gameplay [*]Well optimized engines and controls [*]Beautifully designed main menu [*]Many environments and colorful arts [*]Many levels and 2 solid game modes [*]Very colorful and dynamic maps[/list][/quote] [h1][b]Neutral Points[/b][/h1] [quote][list][*]Same soundtrack at every map, there should be more and mixed soundtracks [*]A level editor would be an amazing feature[/list][/quote] [h1][b]Negative Points[/b][/h1] [quote][list][*]The maps probably move a little too fast [*]The controls are confusing sometimes[/list][/quote]

Puzzle Box: The game is a basic puzzle game that works with mouse , keyboard and or controller. I prefer to use the keyboard and mouse combo. After playing Puzzle Box for sometime I found myself thinking that any new person to games could pick this up quite easily and could enjoy the time spent. The sounds and graphics are quite nice and polished. You dont need a lot of time spare to play it. This is perfect for children where there attention span drops off fast. Just drop into a game and 5mins max your done , I found the average was around 2-4 mins on the lower levels and as you increase so does the difficulty and time spent to finish each level. Pros: - Graphics look nice and sharp. - All ages can play { good for the kids to learn } - Sounds are suited well to the game. - Games are quite fast. - Heaps of levels to complete. - Difficulty scales quite well. Cons: - A little repetitive for the older more experienced gamer. Overall: - 7/10

Oh boy, I've been excited for this game since it was in Greenlight - and I can say that it delivered! Puzzle Box is a very creative and entertaining game for all ages - it's just great all around. The gameplay revolves around dropping block in the right places, but it's surprisingly not repetitive; the game is full of surprises and varieties (which I have to admit I was quite surprised by). My only complains for this game are the menu (which is conceptually super cool but sometimes rather challenging to navigate through, especially due to it's size) and the drop light (the light that helps you drop your blocks more accurately) that is very hard to see - I don't know if this was intended as a part of the gameplay to add difficulty to the game, but on a lot of the stages it blends with the similarly bright background. It makes it rather challenging to drop boxes accurately, especially in moving stages. But other than that, I'm loving this game. Hopefully there'll be Steam Achievements and Trading Cards in the future though!

Great mix of Puzzle, Platformer and simple fun. Various game modes to enjoy so the game never gets stale. And on top of that a lot of content for the small price. If you like PixelArts, Relaxing Games, Puzzle, Platformer, Variety or just simply look for your fix on colorful games, this one is for you.

Recommended... kind of. I assumed this game had PUZZLES because it's name is Puzzle Box. Well, it does have many different modes - two main ones, and a few "smaller" ones - but I think there's too many of them. There's 15 stages to beat - almost all have 6 levels to beat, plus all the levels have their own two mini modes. I only just unlocked Sector 8 and I think I've been playing forever. It's probably because the gameplay really does get repetitive. I don't particularly care for pixel art, but at least the whole game isn't like that. I liked the main screen, it looked nice. Now, there's one minus. If I buy a game that's NOT a visual novel without any other gameplay besides making choices, I want a tutorial. But I was never given one. I saw this tutorial screen above on the trailer section, but it was NEVER shown when you start the game. I wasn't even sure what to do and I'm suddenly on my first level. I had to figure it out on my own, which is not always a bad thing, but it frustrated me. So this game has a lot of modes, but it does get repetitive. It's not a bad game, but my interest tends to wander from game to game and this doesn't particularly hold my interest for long. And that's why I "kind of" recommend it.

This game fulfills my colouring book desires. Calming BGM and simple art. Game requires little tutorial as it is pretty straightforward as to how the game works. You will have to press WASD of the selected colour (the correct colour on the palette will blink) to fill the empty blocks to create the image. Sometimes the colors on the palette are of different shades to its better to use this. OCD people, stay away. Because its pretty hard to get everything correct with 100% perfection.

I received a key for review purposes. A well made fun puzzle game . The first game is a rolling screen right to left and you have to drop tiles into place. I haven't got to the other different puzzles yet but there is quite a few according to the pics on the steam store. I'll update this review once i've tried the other puzzles in the game. You can change the keyboard config by using the popup box before you enter the game. The only "problem" i've had is the mouse doen't seem to be locked into the game window. As you will find ,the game requires quite a bit of mouse movement and i kept being pulled out the game by clicking on my desktop. You can play fullscreen if it's a problem for you. I think any issues will be addressed as the dev starts getting some feedback. It is an early access game so expect the odd issue. Press the ESC key from in-game for some info on how to play or to change the tileset .

Игра представляет из себя набор из шести мини игр: 1. Заполняем недостающие пиксели из 2-4 цветов кнопкам WASD и/или мышкой, при этом движется экран и нужно успеть до того как они уедут за край. 2. Нарисованный в первой игре ланшафт нужно пробежать чуваком попутно собрав 10 монет, даётся два пробега, если что-то пропустил можно дособирать во второй забег. 3. Опять же на том же ланшафте летаем/плаваем какой-то штукой с прикреплённой снизу рукой(как в автоматах в которых надо зацепить игрушку) которой цепляем монетки и относим к двум местам выгрузки, попутно обруливая мешающие "шестерёнки". 4. Тоже самое как в первом пункте но только экран не движется, нужно заполнить картинку на экране. 5. Нужно картинку заполненную в пункте 4 взорвать 3-4 бомбами чтобы на экране осталось менее 20% пикселей 6. Скачем по картинке из пункта 4 собираем 21 бабочку, потом монеты(после чего можем убивать собой вражин), потом забираем собаку, кормим её и на выход, встречаются бомбы которыми можно взрывать пиксели и вражин. Если проходишь все игры 1 и 4 в одном блоке тебе дают перейти в следующий(и ачивку), если зарабатываешь все монеты в блоке дают ещё одну ачивку. Вобщем и всё, все игры лёгкие, в процессе прохождения сложность почти не растёт, и очень скоро начинает надоедать. Играешь только ради ачивок, и вот тут нас ждёт большой облом, оказывается в игру входит только 10 уровней, а ещё пять это DLC. И без него идеальной игры вам не видать, и если у вас его нет - то поиграв в эту игру желание покупать его за 99рублей у вас вряд ли появиться, потому что она уже после 5-ти уровней меня задрала. То есть, как обычно, жадность разрабов выше реальной ценности игры, и возможно я и куплю (по большой скидке) дополнение для того чтоб сделать ещё одну PG в своей коллекции, но где гарантия что они не выпустят ещё DLC из 5-ти туров скажем рублей за 150. Короче я возмущён, пусть идут они к монаху.

This is a really nice and colorful 2d puzzle game which feels good and addictive to play at. Played for a few hours and one of the things i'd liked is the music very relaxing which fit welldone with the game. About the controls have not any issues, played comfortable with keyboard and mouse and I did not need to change his controls key so leave it untouched. Basically you begins the game to filling some empty boxes which after you complete all of them it's created a pixel art graphic pretty cool and genuine so beating the level you gain coins to keep playing the next level and so and so. Eventhough is not finished the game feels solid so i can't imagine when it get completed with more fun even so I would recommend this game to anyone and highly recommended if you have kids which might be more enjoyable and will get a better experience with you and yours. Rated 10/10