Puzleman
SCORE: 80
Puzleman is an interesting app on the iPhone/iPod Touch. And yes it only has one ‘z’ in the name. That is the first thing that will throw most gamers. And some reviewers too. This is a jigsaw puzzle app with some really neat looking pictures. There is a free version of the game, and then once you are hooked you can pay ninety-nine cents to purchase the full version. I played the free version for this review.
The pictures in Puzleman are fantastic. They are beautiful and warrant a look see. The pieces fit together nicely, and I wanted to see the final picture. Which is the goal of any jigsaw puzzle based video game. Puzleman allows players to enjoy this kind of puzzle action on the go without all the mess of a real puzzle. Puzleman keeps it real as the pieces have to be rotated to fit into the appropriate spots. I did not notice any offensive images while playing Puzleman.
There are games with one track, and a few special effect sounds. Puzleman is however as silent as the grave. I heard no sounds at all. This is absolutely bizarre. I expected some kind of sounds. Nothing I tried produced any sounds so this section is one big giant black hole. Silent movies at least had some kind of music playing. Sure it was separate, but it was a part of the experience.
You can’t argue with a free download. Now you may not like the fact that there are only a few puzzles to play with. But then the ninety-nine cents does produce more of them. I feel that Puzleman is worth the price of admission. I would like to see a sequel to this game in the future. And yes I am recommending any sequels include sound.
There is one franchise that is top of the heap in terms of jigsaw puzzle games. JigAPix is that franchise. Yes it is on the Nintendo DS, and not on the iPod Touch/iPhone. But that is another hand held system so it is not like I am comparing an app to a home console game. JigAPix has numerous options that Puzleman does not have. One of them being the ability to turn off rotations. Jigsaw games are more approachable by children when they can place pieces directly into the slots without worrying about rotating them. Puzleman does include numerous difficulty settings so it is more approachable by all ages of the family.
Overall I like
Puzleman, and believe it is a good start for a franchise. Families can
learn to appreciate beautiful pictures while they perform pattern
recognition. Puzleman is safe for the whole family. It would have been
nice to have the multiple difficulty settings on the same pictures.
-
Luke
Graphics: 89%
Sound: 60%
Replay/Extras: 86%
Gameplay: 80%
Family Friendly Factor: 87%
System: iPhone/iPod Touch
Publisher: FerranTebe
Rating: ‘4+’ - 4+
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