A Budget-Friendly Road to Tile-Swapping Fun
I’ve played more tile swapping puzzlers in recent weeks and months than I care to remember. Most of those have been pretty cheap gaming affairs, coming in at less than the price of a coffee.
But none have been as cheap as PuzzleCar. I don’t think any have been as good as PuzzleCar either.
Virtual Rush Hour
Running a sub-£2 asking price, we’re not sure there will be too many games that can go toe-to-toe with PuzzleCar in terms of cash to content to quality. That’s not to say it’s the best game we’ve ever played, and it won’t be one that lasts you much longer than a single evening on the sofa, but as decent tile swapping puzzlers go, this one has got something about it.
You know Rush Hour? That little physical car puzzler in which you need to try and move a variety of cars around a small board, all so one red car can make it through the rush hour safely? Yeah, well there was a little bit of us that hoped PuzzleCar would play like that; albeit virtually. In truth though, this is a world away.
One Car, Many Paths
There’s only ever one car to worry about in PuzzleCar. Engine ticking over, sitting idle, as you warp into one of the 50 stages in PuzzleCar, you’ll see that little motor waiting at a start line, revving away, ready to go. The thing is, it can’t go anywhere, and certainly won’t make it to its end goal, until you’ve spent a little time setting up the road ahead.
Playing out in square and rectangular grids, your job is to pick up and swap multiple tiles, all to ensure a safe passage for your little four wheeled friend. Once that route is settled on, hitting X on your controller will send him on his merry way, fingers crossed that they don’t meet their comeuppance as they go. A double tap of X will speed them up if time is short.
The Drive for Perfection
Allow this car the opportunity to reach the end of the stage and you’ll find yourself dropped neatly into the next test, a new puzzle at hand.
But it’s here where PuzzleCar ups the ante. On basic levels, you’ll need to swap various tiles, some vertical lanes, others horizontal, corner pieces and crossroads. Placing them in optimum positions is the name of the game.
With no time limit, it’s easy enough to hover over a tile, pick it up and then switch it with another; the cursor to hand working well. Yet whilst creating the shortest route possible is a viable tactic, to really get the most out of PuzzleCar you’ll need to ensure that your created road lets the car pass over – and pick up – some collectibles. In this case gas cans and tools. Only by grabbing everything on a stage will you be heading towards full completion.
Adding Layers to the Puzzle
Creating windy tracks past houses, trees and rivers is therefore key, as is making the most of some portal-like tunnels which helpfully whisk your car from one spot on a level to another. Alongside that are the occasional non-movable tile, in the form of a zebra crossing, something that combines nicely with some traffic lights.
Utilising every last tile is the real key to PuzzleCar, and once you get into the flow, understanding how the minds of those at Rising Moon Games work, you will find this game has a bit of an addictive quality. In fact, due to the short-ish nature of many stages, the minutes turn into a couple of hours of play before you know it.
The Completionist’s Path
There’s replayability too, as you are given the chance to go back over previously completed stages as you hunt all those collectible cans and tools. You’ll want to do just that if you fancy driving away from PuzzleCar with the full 1000 Gamerscore in your trunk.
A cutesy little art style brings things together nicely too and whilst there’s nothing majorly exciting about the graphics in place, and you’ll switch the soundtrack off within a matter of seconds, it’s hard to knock such an accomplished little game. Even more so when that game is so cheap to buy.
A Surprisingly Addictive Budget Puzzler
Don’t let that very cheap price point of PuzzleCar put you off. This may be a simple tile swapping puzzler, and you may well complete everything it offers within a couple of hours, but for those hours, you’ll no doubt become addicted to the easy-to-handle gameplay and fun levels.
Not everything that is cheap is rubbish. PuzzleCar is proof of that.
Your Links
Pave the Way – Minimalist Puzzler PuzzleCar Drives onto Xbox for Pocket Change! – https://www.thexboxhub.com/pave-the-way-minimalist-puzzler-puzzlecar-drives-onto-xbox-for-pocket-change/
Buy PuzzleCar on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/puzzlecar/9nd1sq9g6tnv
