Triazzle 3.0 comes to life on the iPhone

Triazzle 3.0 is one of the most uniquely beautifully and ultimately playable games I have yet to see on the iPhone. Truthfully, I am nothing more than a casual gamer and find most games too complex or time consuming, but I was sucked in immediately. it's a bit like chess in that it's very easy to learn, but mastering it? Well, that's something else again.

Triazzle, in one form or another, has been around since 1991 (when it appeared as a paper cut-out game). Later it was developed as software and sold by Berkeley Systems and then Activision. Like a fine wine, the game has aged well and the iPhone 3.0 version proves to be the best version yet

The game presents you with a large triangle board and either 9 or 16 smaller triangular pieces with repeating graphical images that fit onto the larger triangle. Each piece can be rotated and moved onto the board. When all the small triangles are in the right places, you win. Sounds easy, right? Well it isn't.

There is only one possible solution and since many of the pieces look amazingly similar, you are bound to come up with what looks like a perfect solution, but isn't quite right. It takes strategy and a good sense of spatial relationships to get things just so. You are also helped a bit by little insects that become animated when you get a piece in the right position.
According to the chosen difficulty level, you are given a number of hints which tell where any given triangle belongs on the board. As a beginning player, this was useful since finding a correct corner piece can go a long way to defining how the game board should be laid out.

When you're sure you have it right, but still haven't won, Triazzle leaves the realm of a simple time waster and attains the exalted ranks of a combination brain teaser and worthy opponent. I found myself almost bargaining with the game and telling myself: "If I move a piece here and rotate it twice, that makes two pieces right but a third wrong, so if I move the third to another position if it looks right and the score is increasing I may be getting somewhere. Or not." If you are out of hints and turning bright red, shake the iPhone and the correct solution will be revealed.

Technically the game is a marvel. The graphics and game play are first rate. If you can get to all of them, you'll find 48 different background designs with increasingly complex graphics. The original music score by Billy White Acre is a wonderful enhancement. The music goes from soothing, in early levels, to a bit more upbeat when the game gets harder. I suggest listening through earphones since the score is nicely produced and aided by ambient sounds and sound effects; you can set the effect volume in the game options.

Attention to detail is more than commendable and I feel that a good deal of the value of the game is in how well it was implemented. When starting the game, you are offered help screens which only take a few minutes to read. This is critical. Although the game is easy to learn and there are next-to-no controls, a bit of a foundation is needed. When starting off, many games toss you into the fray with nothing to hold onto, and I find that frustrating.

If a call comes in or you need to leave the game, upon your return, you can resume your game. There's no need to save since it's already done. The game, as with most iPhone games, can be played in Airplane mode with no network connection. This makes it great for traveling and lets you play a quick game anywhere.

A special Kids level is included for players 5 years and older. It gives a young gamer unlimited hints and play is restricted to a 9-piece game using simpler graphics.

What I found especially attractive to a casual gamer like myself is that there is no pressure, no scoring, and no time limit. You play the game at your own pace, and in a world of shoot-em-ups and kill points, I like that. In fact I like it a lot. It's a game you can pick up for a few minutes or play for a few hours. Dan Gilbert of Dreamship Inc., the game designer, has built in the freedom to play on your terms, not the game's terms, and that I find very refreshing.

Future tweaks will include drop shadows on puzzle pieces (you can see a bit of that in the walk-through video), and an upcoming light version with just a few levels enabled. Triazzle 3.0 should be available in the iTunes App Store now.

I've been playing it for the better part of the day, and I'm very impressed. Check out the video and I think you will be too.