Nintendo Switch – Piczle Lines DX #5

And here comes another one!

Piczle Lines DX – Nintendo Switch – Released: 8/24/2017 – $14.99

Mobile games have been coming out left and right to the Switch but is that really a bad thing? When it comes to this one and one of my other favorite mobile to Switch games this is on the top! Piczle Lines DX is a puzzle game that I already own on my galaxy tablet since July and it is a game that gives you the first chapter for free on mobile and has a ton of unlock able packs that together are the same price as the Switch release. I already purchased all the story mode packs on my tablet so when I saw the story mode and DLC was coming to Switch, I was really excited. Let’s start off with the short review! This game is near perfect at 9 out of 10 and a great buy for $15 that has enough puzzles to keep you satisfied for a long time. The story mode took me about a week to beat and I may have clocked in 15-20 hours in short bursts to 100% for the story mode… The Switch version has the story mode and there is a lot of DLC with free updates to come in the future.

Anyone that wanted to know what the game icon looks like here you go since I know some people were bothered by Sonic’s head this one looks just in line with other images and fits right in while Sonic Mania looks a little silly with no title under Sonic’s face.

Short Overall History of the Series

I remember playing the first game on my iPod Touch back in 2010…. Do people still use those today? The original game is an amazing puzzle game that reminded me of the Picross series due to the invention of the Piczle Matic! This machine is a camera that takes objects and turns them into pixels. The first game was just based on the professor while newer games switched focus to Gig, the lovable clumsy child. None of the games are in numeral order due to just being a collection of puzzles with the first game being Piczle Lines and there is a triple pack called Piczle Lines Jr. that comes in different colors. Now we have the release of Piczle Lines DX.

Piczle Lines DX’s Story

The story is pretty funny with cute cut scenes with the professor coming to show off his newest invention the Piczle Matic 3000 which he throws an apple, takes a picture of it and it shatters into a bundle of pixels. Gig is excited about the invention and takes it to try it out…. she runs away and proceeds to drop it on the floor of his lab. Everything in the lab shatters into pixels and it is your job to put them back together.

Before:

Once you finally finish the 20 puzzle chapter you fix the lab! After:

This proceeds repeats for each of the chapters with the house being next after the destruction of the lab. I won’t ruin the story since it is funny to see what happens to the areas around them and when they finally fix everything.

Gameplay

This is a puzzle game at its core but one that you likely haven’t tried before. I know for me the best thing to compare it to is Picross but instead of having the numbers on the edges, they are presented inside of the boxes and these boxes can get crazy complicated.

This is the biggest puzzle in the game at 128×128 and if you look at the top left corner you can see the small area that I am in compared to the entire puzzle and this is the furthest you can zoom out. The game starts off small but by the end you are completing 64×64 all the time. This game I found is best played with a finger since the joystick and buttons controls are nice but can be rather slow. It is great for on the TV but this is a game best played in short bursts on a bus to squeeze in a level or two or when you just want to relax for a few minutes.

If you could look at this screenshot:

you will notice different colors along with numbers. These colors represent which number to match with another color of the same number. There can also be multiples of the same color and number so you have to figure out which one goes with each one. These can get incredibly complicated if you look at the 128×128 screenshot where you will notice a lot of repeating numbers with the same colors.

That is all there is for the gameplay with puzzles that will take anywhere from a few seconds to several minutes. I never got a chance to do the 128×128 puzzles on mobile due to not owning the DLC but I really look forward to working my way through them. The game has a ton of DLC which is actually longer than the story mode where you will likely be spending most of your time. The story is broken down into 5 chapters with 20 puzzles in each one with one opening cut scene and one closing cut scene. There is no voice acting in this game as well if anyone wanted to know. The free DLC packs in the “Puzzle mode” are a great addition to the game with 11 packs ranging from Pets to Instruments to the mother of all DLC with 20 128×128 puzzles with the Dinosaur pack. That alone I know will take me an hour or two to complete since each of the 64×64 puzzles takes me 10-20 minutes when I am taking my time.

The game also has a short “How to Play” that is just a series of short cut scenes that guide you on how to play obviously. A “Trophy Room” where you will unlock achievements that are shown in game when every you complete something from beating a chapter to beating a stage without deleting a line to beating a humongous puzzle and repeating it. There is also an “Options” tab that turns off background music, sound effects, lock puzzle zoom, colourblind mode, language, and the ability to reset the entire game. Then finally the “Credits” which shows off the incredibly small team that gave us this amazing game.

Personal Experience

Given that the Switch version has barely been out but after talking with Rainy Frog about future updates with free puzzle packs. I am excited to play through this game one more time and completely finish it with 100% and eventually come back to it from time to time to finish the extra DLC coming. The game is an amazing puzzle game but it does have a slight issue that I had to take 1 point off for…. and it is the music. I really like the upbeat music but it also the reason why I don’t like to sit and play through too many stages in one go. The main songs loop endlessly and they aren’t very long or many. That isn’t to say they aren’t good but when you are doing puzzle after puzzle and the puzzle music is only around 1 minute long it does ingrain into your head. Outside of that the game would be a 10 out of 10 if it had a wider range of tunes but I guess with the addition of the option to turn off music it wouldn’t be too bad and I could listen to something else easily. On Switch I have only played through chapter one and completed one of the DLC packs (Instruments) but I have ran through the entire game on my tablet. I have to say this game is a great puzzle game that I can see myself sharing with my nephew and niece. It will be a great way to get them thinking and likely require some of my help with the harder puzzles.

Final Thoughts

If you are on the fence about this game and it looks even remotely interesting buy this puzzle game. It will not disappoint you at $15! When this game was released on mobile it was able to scratch the itch for a puzzle game to hold me over until Lady Layton and now that it has been finished and I crave for more puzzles…. Pizcle Lines DX comes back to scratch the itch some more with its DLC that I will enjoy for the next month or two and whenever more free DLC packs come!

Update: 4/2/19

With the constant free DLC this will be the first game to receive a 10 out of 10! It has so much content now a days that it is hard to pass up!

This code was provided by Rainy Frog and I was required to talk about pricing, updates, and future DLC. Thanks Tony!

Trailer: https://youtu.be/fnX6dcX95Ms and Website: http://piczle.club/pldx-switch-e.html

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