The Xbox Live Arcade is home to many different puzzle games, most of which are not worth the purchase. They’re cheap ports that pull in a ridiculous amount of sales due to the uneducated casual gamer who is perfectly fine with dropping 800 Microsoft points on absolute garbage. Unfortunately, some of the most entertaining puzzlers are overlooked in the wake of these many other wastes of time. Droplitz, published by Atlus, contains some of the most simple premises that you could imagine, yet it just works. For a good time with some mind-bending puzzles, it just might be what you’re looking for.

If you’ve ever played BioShock (which you should have), you should feel pretty comfortable with the way Droplitz is set up. Remember how to hack the vending machines? Well, Droplitz features the same premise. At the top of the game board, you’re presented with “droppers” that deposit Droplitz into the play area. You’ll need to make sure they reach the bottom via the series of tubes (not the internet) that comprise the game board. You may rotate each circular tile containing a different path for the Droplitz to take in order to make a complete path to the bottom, which is most certainly not as easy as you would assume. Each circular tile is connected to another, so it’s a constant battle of trial and error in order to guide those errant Droplitz to the bottom, where they will be collected. Each time you successfully create a path, you’ll receive a bonus in the form of more Droplitz.

It’s a very straightforward game that takes very little time to understand completely. You’ll rotate the tiles via A or B and fast-forward Droplitz to the end of their paths via the X button, much like Tetris and Peggle will allow you to do. However, just because you’ve created paths, that doesn’t mean your work is done. When they are completed the cleared paths will disappear in order to make room for brand new dials to fall into place. Long story short – lather, rinse, and repeat until you have accrued enough points set forth at the beginning of the round for you to get through to the next challenge.

And that’s all you’ll really need to remember about Droplitz. However, don’t expect to go into it and become a genius overnight regarding how to create the most effective paths. Just like many other puzzlers before it, Droplitz will take much trial and error in order for you to fully grasp. Because you’ll be racing against a timer, you’ll need to make sure your skills are sharply honed before running into puzzles without an attack plan. While I said that this title is a simple one, that definitely does not carry over to the difficulty department. Don’t fear – in time, you’ll be busting out multipliers and some sick high scores if you care enough to stick with it.

Droplitz features four modes of play, though all for single-player enjoyment. You can go with the classic mode that clears round after round, Zendurance Challenge to play the classic mode without a difficulty hike, Power-Up that provides power-ups for you to use within the game, and Infection, which is excruciatingly hard to unlock with a score of over 350,000 points. If you want to unlock that bad boy, you’ve got quite a long way to go. Unfortunately, there is no multiplayer to speak of. This seems like a mighty strange move since the game seems to beg for person-on-person action via Xbox Live, but I suppose it was determined unnecessary at this time.

As far as graphics go, Droplitz isn’t that flashly. Cool-toned game boards and relaxing pastels will greet you once you start up the game, but don’t expect any elaborate presentations. You may very well find yourself humming the music after returning to the dashboard, however. It seems to have that effect on you. If you’re looking for a quick, enjoyable round of puzzles, then you should look into Droplitz for something refreshing.

Doin’ It RIGHT: - Interesting approach to puzzling. - Lots of different levels to get through if you’re skilled enough. - Different modes to unlock if you’ve got the patience.	Doin’ It RONG: - Some modes are ridiculously hard to unlock. - Little graphical change between different modes and levels. - A bit high for a simple XBLA puzzler.
FINAL SCORE: 7 / 10

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Tags: Droplitz, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE Arcade

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 9th, 2009 at 6:44 pm and is filed under XBLA, Xbox 360. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.