This is a uniquely named puzzler (not sure if it’s pronounced “Four four four four,” or “four-thousand, four-hundred forty-four.”  In the game you must make squares of the same color to make a bigger square, and the only rule is that you have to place a certain color square on a different color space.  With this simple rule they’ve created nearly half a dozen gameplay modes in this downloadable game for iOS and Android devices (reviewed on iPad here).

Controls are simple.  Simply tap on the square that you want to change the color to.  You can see which colors come next on the bottom part of the screen.  When a square of four of the same color is made, it’ll turn into a bigger square.  Game Over requirements are different in each mode.  Speaking of which, there are nearly half a dozen modes in this nifty little game.

First is a tutorial mode, which gives you levels that help explain the rules and functions of the various blocks.  In Moves Mode, you have a certain number of moves to make one big square of the same color and clear the level.  You get more stars the faster you complete the level, and if you use as few moves as possible.  In Time Mode, you have unlimited moves, but must complete the level and make one big square in a given amount of time.

There are also three arcade style modes as well.  In Endless, you can play forever until you can’t make any more moves.  They just add more and more colors until you can’t make bigger squares anymore.  Which can take quite a while.  In these modes, if you zap the smallest square, it’s Game Over.  Swarm Mode introduces monsters that can take control of a square and change its color to mess up your work.  If you match colors and make a bigger square around the monster, you can clear it out.  You’ll definitely want to do that with monsters that have a skull on them.  If they stick around long enough, they can end your game as well.  Last arcade mode is Nightmare, which is a super-hard endless mode with monsters everywhere!

I guess if I HAD to come up with a problem with this game, it’s that some of the levels can get pretty hard, and they don’t explain the arcade mode rules as well.  But the game is so easy to figure out that it’s not much of a problem at all.  If you enjoy simple little puzzlers, this one’s a good game to download.

Kid Factor:

I guess the only violence in the game is that when you clear out a monster; they go ‘splat’ like a squished bug before disappearing.  But other than that it’s just colored shapes.  Reading skill is helpful for some of the rules, but the game is still pretty easy to figure out just by playing.  Younger gamers may need help with the tougher puzzles, though.

Tags: Game Reviews