Tickle Your Brain As You Take It Easy In This New Puzzle Game
Take It Easy ($1.99) by Ravensburger Digital GmbH is one heck of a brain teasing puzzle game for your iPhone and iPad. Once you pick this one up, you'll probably be like me and have a hard time putting it down.
I know you are probably thinking about pick-up sticks while looking at screenshots of this game, but rest assured, the game is actually not like that at all. The basic gist of this board game are the tiles that have pieces of various colored lines and numbers on them. You must form continuous rows of the same color of line from one edge of the board to the other. Sounds pretty easy, right? But it's far from it.
Take It Easy has three game modes: Classic, Puzzle, and Progressive.
Classic is only one game, with the goal of getting as many points as you can. You will see the tile to use in the bottom right corner, and you must drag it and place it on the board in any spot you wish. But once a tile is placed, it cannot be moved again. Things will become harder once you start running out of empty spaces to place tiles on.
Puzzle mode will already have a board full of tiles for you, but you must swap tiles around in order to meet the required amount of points to move on. As you go through puzzle mode, you will also encounter other objectives that must be met before you can clear the level. Objectives will vary with a certain number of lines at specific angles, how many of a certain line piece are used to make a complete row, and more. You will also encounter locked tiles that can’t be swapped, wild card tiles that can be used for any color, and even “missing line” tiles that will screw up anything you try to accomplish.
Progressive mode is the final mode, and you can only unlock it after completing at least 25 puzzles. It is similar to Classic, but you are timed and must get the required amount of points before it’s too late. Some pieces of the board will already be filled, which can make things easier or complicate them even more. Completing a level before time runs out will add a time bonus to your score, and you also get a bonus level after every five levels or so. Not meeting the requirement means that it will be game over.
In addition to these single player modes, Take It Easy also has local and online multiplayer, so you can play head-to-head with a friend or random opponent. The local multiplayer will split the game into two on one screen, so you can play across with your friend. There is Game Center support for multiplayer, leaderboards, and achievements.
So how exactly are you scored in this game? That’s pretty easy. Each line color has a number assigned to it. When you create a complete row from edge-to-edge, you will get that number multiplied with how many pieces it took you to create the row with. So of course, it’s best if you can create more lines with more valuable pieces, but this won’t always be feasible, since lines will criss-cross and be interrupted with another piece if you aren’t being careful.
The game is deceptively simple, but really makes you think on your feet. I am a huge fan of puzzle games, and I had a hard time putting this one down, since I wanted to keep trying to beat my own score. The graphics are bright and colorful, and the ambient music should help calm you down enough to think about what your next move is.
If you are looking for a great puzzle game to pick up this week, then I highly recommend giving Take It Easy a try. You won't be disappointed. It's available for your iPhone and iPad (universal) for only $1.99 in the App Store.
For more puzzle games, make sure to check out this AppList.
