Challenge Your Brain By Unscrambling The Pictures In Mirror Mixup

Mirror Mixup ($0.99) by Clockwork Pixels is a unique and challenging picture puzzle game that will work your brain. It is a bit similar to Slide Circus HD, except instead of sliding, you’re flipping mirrors.

Here we are, with another puzzle game. I’m sure that you’ve all had your fill of puzzles, but this one is definitely a standout and should be a very welcome addition to any puzzle fan’s device, especially if you enjoy picture puzzles. And unlike the traditional sliding tile puzzles, there’s a lot more challenging puzzles to solve in Mirror Mixup, differentiating it from the rest.

The graphics in Mirror Mixup are pretty decent, though I wouldn’t say that they are the best I’ve ever seen for a puzzle game. Of course, with a game like this, the visual style of the menus and stuff isn’t too important, is it? The music is also soothing, so it should help put you in the mood to solve some images.

I did find the buttons in the game menu to be a bit small to tap on the iPhone (especially if you have nails). While it’s completely possible, it was just a bit tricky for me. I hope that the developer considers making the buttons just a tad larger, if at all possible (there’s some extra space from what I’ve noticed).

So how do you play? The basic controls of the game are simple: drag your finger around the picture to select a panel, and then select the direction you want to flip it in. For reference, a thumbnail of the complete picture is in the top right corner. There is a toggle to show or hide the correct panels on the picture, so you can see which ones you still need to fix, and an undo button to fix mistakes. Each level has a limit on the number of moves you can make to solve it, and you get a bonus if you can solve it in the Expert amount of moves. If you’ve made too many mistakes, you can always start over with the button.

There are three game modes in the game: Mixup, Random, and Impossible.

Mixup is the classic mode, where you will progress through puzzles by solving previous ones. You will unlock more than one puzzle with each solved one, so there isn’t a linear progression when it comes to advancing in the game. Keep an eye out on the amount of moves you are permitted, and try and get the expert amount if you can. The images are pretty easy, and some panels are already in their proper place — you just have to solve the rest. Random will just give you a random puzzle to solve, which is great if you are indecisive.

Impossible Mode will prove to be the most challenging of the three (hence the name). The puzzle will have all panels scrambled up, and the images are much more difficult than Mixup mode — they all have tricky patterns so that it’s not obvious to tell from the get-go which piece is which. You also won’t get to see which panels are correct, but there is no limit on the amount of moves you can make. Beware, this mode isn’t for the faint of heart.

In total, you are able to unlock about 200 puzzles, each one more difficult than the last.

The game has full Game Center support for achievements, but there are no leaderboards since this is more of a relaxing puzzle game than a competitive one. And for those with multiple devices, iCloud support is available, so you can take your progress with you, regardless of which device you choose to use for the game.

If you are a fan of picture puzzles, then I highly recommend checking out this game. It’s relaxing, yet challenging at the same time. The only thing I wish the developer would change is the size of the buttons, as they can be a bit small on the iPhone.

You can get Mirror Mixup in the App Store as a universal download for $0.99. There is also a free Lite version to try if you’re on the fence.