XBLA Indie Review: ColorBox
“Hope you know your Colour Wheel!”
An XboxHornet Review By WDesm.
ColorBox is a remake of the web-based game of the same name. The original game, designed by dev team Eyehook, is free to play online, and the XBLIG release has undergone significant upgrades to bring us a fully featured XBLIG title with a proven core of fantastic gameplay. This puzzle game is amazing and engrossing, but you’ll need to know a little bit about colours to hold your own. Even if the gameplay isn’t your normal “match 3 of the same gems to win,” this puzzler is well worth playing, and you might even learn a little bit about how colours mix and match.
In ColorBox, the goal is to have blocks turn white, and then they are bumped off the field (and you gain points). The way blocks turn white is by the Additive Colour Theory (for example, blue + yellow cancel out to make white). This game of colour addition becomes more complicated at higher difficulties with the inclusion of oversized blocks, shades of grey, and even pure black blocks. With a limited play field to work, it becomes very important to determine where you want your blocks to land, and hopefully build up a big combo (because, like any puzzler, combos are worth far more points that single block clears).
The web-based version....
Of course, not everyone who plays puzzle games has memorized colour theory off by heart, and Eyehook certainly doesn’t expect you to; if you wait for just a second, blocks that will mix to create white with your current selection will shine, hinting to you where you can plan your move. There’s no penalty for taking your time, so ColorBox can quickly become an enjoyable way to flex your puzzle-solving skills without getting stressed. Of course, for those that like to work under pressure, the included versus mode has you fighting against another to mix those colours!
...and the XBLIG upgrade! This is showcasing the "seasons" mode, where you alternate between the four seasons, with the colors available matching the theme
The game is vibrant, colourful, and well designed. The ease of difficulty in the early moments really helps to hook the gamer, and soon enough, you will be grappling with the high score board (local-only, disappointingly) or with your friends in versus (local-only, disappointingly) to be the best colour matcher you can be. If you’re at all a fan of puzzle games, this one is a must-try!
Greyscale follows the same rules - light squares will lighten up adjacent ones!
Game Score 9/10
Download a free demo of the game here.
The Additive Colour Wheel linked to above was shamelessly stolen from HTMLBLOX, a fantastic site on everything HTML.
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