While the 3DS lives long enough to become a legacy handheld, the folks at Lightwood Games are still creating casual titles for its eShop. Link-a-Pix Color is their second entry in the “___-a-Pix” line of games they started with Pic-a-Pix Color (a Picross game with a dash of color added to it). They actually got to release Block-a-Pix Color recently, but for now, we’ll be looking at Link. While I’ve never played Picross nor know how to, I do know how to draw lines and connect two points.
Graphics
The presentation is admittedly on the bare-bones side. There’s not much in visuals save for the pixelated menu buttons and the pixel art you create during gameplay. That’s not to say that’s an issue, of course; games like this are typically laidback in this fashion. I get why there’s not a lot going on. One detail I do like, though, is that you can see the image as it forms on the top screen while you’re working on putting it together in the bottom screen.
Audio
Throughout the game plays a cute 8-Bit melody. I personally would have preferred a variety of different songs to play, but for the only song in the game it doesn’t get annoying enough to be a major issue. Sound effects seem to be next to none. I don’t understand why, though. Link-a-Pix could have used a little punch from those.
Gameplay
Link-a-Pix Color is a grid-based puzzle game where you draw lines to connect spaces of the same color and number together. The more lines that are executed, the more they make up a piece of pixel art (as shown on the top screen). It’s easy to get the hang of, but it does occasionally test your skill with its clever design layouts.
I was immediately reminded of Piczle Lines DX for the Nintendo Switch when I first played this. Both games play with the exact same concept, and they both offer a wide amount of puzzles to dive into. I actually enjoy Link-a-Pix a little more, though. All it takes to get to a puzzle is, at most, two taps and no loading times in between; the pace is much snappier as a result. It also gets into the more challenging puzzles a lot quicker.
Verdict
As such, Link-a-Pix Color gets a solid recommendation from me. For 3DS owners that have yet to try this kind of casual puzzle gameplay before, now would be a good time to start. There’s more than enough line drawing and image formulating to go around in this title.
Review copy provided by Lightwood Games
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