Puzzle Arcade Co-Op Review

Review System(s): Xbox Live Arcade

Nicholas "bapenguin" Puleo Monday 29th of December 2008 09:34 AM

While playing Braid there was one thing that stuck out at me. Why hasn't anyone made a game where you put together jigsaw picture puzzles like those found in that game? Low and behold Eidos has answered the call with Puzzle Arcade for the Xbox Live Arcade. Like many of you, I'm sure you have fond memories of putting puzzles together with family, and thankfully Puzzle Arcade allows you to relive your childhood playing cooperatively with up to 4 players both locally and online.

So why would you need a digital jigsaw puzzle game? Like anything in digital form, there are some advantages. The game has 35 traditional style puzzles (yes there's a kitten one) that each let you play in 3 different puzzle piece shapes; traditional, rounded and angles. Not only can you choose the shape of the pieces, you can choose the number of pieces from twenty five to over a thousand pieces. There's also "dynamic" puzzles which slightly change over time as you put them together. It's not as hard as it sounds, for instance one such puzzle had a city scape change from day into night and back. Along with these puzzles there is a free "Puzzle of the Week" when connected to Xbox Live as well as the ability to make your own puzzles by using the Xbox Live vision camera. That's right you can make infinite kitty puzzles, perhaps even one of your very own fluffy.

The co-op mode works as you might expect, each player has a cursor to control and can place puzzle pieces. It's just like sitting at the dining room table with a good old fashion puzzle but without that woody smell. There's two ways to organize pieces, classic and turbo. Classic modes is just like dumping a gigantic box on your table with all the pieces everywhere, while turbo stacks and arranges pieces on the left side for quick and easy access. And if you want to add a dash of competition to your co-op experience, the game tracks how many pieces you've put together and even adds a scoring meta game on top of it. My wife liked to complain that I was "stealing her pieces" - I tried to tell her it wasn't a game...but then I bragged about my score at the end.

There are a few quirks. You can't save progress in co-op, which basically makes big puzzles kind of pointless. It should also be noted that the "Turbo" mode can only be played with 2 players, not 4.

For the price of a normal thousand piece puzzle, you'll get a seemingly limitless game that you can share with your partner, your kids, and anyone else in your family. It truly is a game that anyone can play and anyone can enjoy, and a great way to play together. Of course the best thing about the game is no missing puzzle pieces...and of course the kitties!

The Co-Op Experience: Put together traditional JigSaw style puzzles with up to four players either locally or over Xbox Live.

Score: 4 out of 5

OMG KITTIES!!!!!!

Co-Optimus game reviews focus on the cooperative experience of a game, our final score graphic represents this experience. Our General Score is more representitive of the overall experience.

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Tags: xbox live arcade puzzle arcade reviews

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Reader Comments

txshurricane at 12:44 PM on 12.29.2008

This is a neat distraction that my wife will like. Thanks for the review, Nick! Added to queue...

roland at 03:17 PM on 12.29.2008

It's always seemed to me that games like this miss out on the point of real jigsaw puzzles. The tactile sense of feeling the pieces in your hands as you place them. That sense of satisfaction when you snap a piece in place after staring at the board for a couple of minutes. You feel it in your fingertips when you pops into place.

For us, it's also a month long ordeal to complete a puzzle. About once a year, we'll buy one of those gigantic, multi-thousand piece puzzles and set it up on a table, working on it a few minutes as a time everyday. There's just something about that I love.

Of course, I also feel that most digital versions of board games are travesties against nature. I have my odd moments of being an old codger. I would rather see jigsaw puzzles and traditional board games stay on kitchen tables and off hard drives.

txshurricane at 06:39 PM on 12.29.2008

The same thing can be said about sports games, paintball games, etc. Just because a video game doesn't put someone in a fantastical position doesn't mean that it doesn't qualify as a valid form of entertainment.

Personally, I'd rather be shooting my guns than playing Call of Duty 4. But since ammo is expensive and I have to clean my guns after each shoot, I settle for simulated combat.

Don't get me wrong - I know you're just sharing your preference. I'm only pointing out that at their core, games are simply embellished simulations of real activities, and you're not always going to prefer the fake to the real.

roland at 09:29 PM on 12.29.2008

I actually thought about that when I was writing that post, but digital jigsaw puzzles just push the line a bit too far for me. Even in games that strongly simulate actions I could take in real life, there is a fantasy element. I might be able to throw a football, but I'm never going to lead the Chiefs to a SuperBowl (not that anyone could at this point).

Total Comments: 4

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