Review: Pixel Puzzles: Japan

At a Glance

ESRB Rating: NR - Not Rated
My Rating: Everyone
Genre: Puzzle
License: Commercial
Fun-O-Meter:
Release Year: 2014
Review Published On: August 27th, 2016
Played on: Martha

Available on:

Windows

Available from:

Steam

Areas of Concern:
  • You can mistreat a fish


How to Save and Pause:

The game remembers what puzzles youve completed, but theres no way to save a game in progress. This means that you either solve a puzzle in one attempt, or start it over again later.

Time needed per session:

Youll need to set aside enough time to complete a puzzle in one session, so Id suggest planning to play for fifteen to thirty minutes.

Does this game pose issues for Christian players?

No - this is a great game for Christians
There really isnt anything too concerning about this game. At most, there are some mild references to Zen and Enlightenment. The player can also choose to be a little mean to the koi that lives in the pond, but thats entirely optional.

Screenshots

[view screenshot]
Oops. Grabbed the fish again.

[view screenshot]
One step closer to enlightenment

[view screenshot]
Looking over the gallery (note the ad in the corner)



Game Overview

Games in this series go on sale for ridiculously low prices fairly often, and since its always possible to find a hidden gem in the sales, I thought Id check them out. Pixel Puzzles: Japan is the first game in the series, which makes it a natural starting point. Unfortunately, its not so much a hidden gem as it is a diamond in the rough. There are a number of problems that get in the players way, so while its still fun enough, it might be better to wait for a sale before you go and buy it.

For the most part, this is a typical jigsaw puzzle game. The gameplay is pretty much what youd expect, though there are a few things unique to this series. The first thing youll notice is that the pieces are floating about in a koi pond that surrounds the play area. Using a piece is just a matter of dragging it out of the pond and placing it somewhere. Of course, there is a koi swimming around in the pond along with the pieces, and if youre not careful, you might pluck it out of the water instead.

Once the puzzle has been solved, a boulder falls from the sky. The force of the impact causes the koi to jump out of the water and spit out a golden puzzle piece. At this point, you can either return the koi to the water to restart the puzzle, or hand the golden piece to the monk to end the level and assist him in reaching enlightenment. Interestingly enough, hell manage to become enlightened before youve cleared every puzzle.

Points of Interest

Steam community features

Considering its a game about solving jigsaw puzzles, its a little unexpected to see that it features Steam trading cards and achievements. Naturally, most of the achievements are for clearing specific puzzles, though some are for other things, like bothering the koi in different ways.

18 Puzzles to play through

All in all, there are 18 puzzles for you to solve. Each of these are tiered by difficulty, starting with the lowest piece count and eventually reaching over two hundred pieces per puzzle. The puzzles themselves are images of landscapes or buildings from Japan.

Picking up a specific piece isnt easy

There seems to be a layering issue with the pieces floating in the pond. This means that the piece that appears to be on top actually isnt, causing you to grab a piece you didnt want. This can be very annoying when the puzzles have a lot of pieces. Oh, and be careful when dumping the piece you grabbed back into the pond -- that can scatter the nearby pieces.

The koi gets in the way

As mentioned above, theres a chance that youll accidentally grab the fish swimming in the pond instead of a piece. You can plop it on the play area if you want, though itll quickly squirm its way back into the pond. Should you feel like being a little cruel, you could also wedge it in the pipe in the lower left, where itll be stuck until you manually remove it.

Pieces dont rotate

In a real jigsaw puzzle, pieces can be facing in any direction. Here, the pieces are always facing the correct direction, removing some of the difficulty and, in my opinion, some of the fun.

Pieces snap in place

When you move a piece onto the play area, itll snap into place if you left it near where the piece goes. This stops making sense when you realize that there doesnt have to be any pieces nearby for this to happen. While a distinctive click can be heard when the pieces snap in place, you can easily miss this sound and be left wondering why an unattached piece cant be moved.

Viewing a preview of the image requires a hint

There is exactly one hint in this game, and it requires charging up before you can use it. When you click the symbol in the upper right, the finished image superimposes itself on the play area. Supposedly this is to help you see where pieces go, but in practice it just makes it harder to see where your pieces actually are.

No in-game save feature

Probably the biggest complaint about the game is that theres no way to save your progress in the middle of a puzzle. In order to complete any of the puzzles, you must solve them in one sitting. This is reasonable for the early levels, but the complicated puzzles that appear later on can easily take 45 minutes to an hour to solve.

Concerns and Issues

References to Zen and Enlightenment

This game is based around the concept of helping a monk attain enlightenment through quiet puzzling. While extremely mild when it comes to religious references, these arent Christian concepts and some parents may feel obligated to avoid them.

Inappropriate use of a fish

One of the things you can do with the koi is shove it head first into the water pipe at the bottom left of the games screen. Itll be stuck there until you release it, and in the meantime itll clearly be seen trying to wiggle free. Theres actually an achievement for doing this to the poor thing.

In game advertising

On specific screens (such as the games menu or gallery) theres a little advertisement for other games in the series. One of these is a zombie themed puzzle game that clearly features some blood.