G.G Series: Energy Chain

Genre: Unlimited Pattern Puzzle

Players: 1

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Review:

Energy Chain is an Unlimited Pattern Puzzle released on the Nintendo DSi via the DSiWare service in 2015, as well as being made available on the Nintendo 3DS eShop. This game has players placing multicolored blocks to try to form a circuit between two of the four electrical “dynamos” placed on a grid. Doing so clears the connecting blocks and refills some time, with players continuing until the grid is so choked with un-cleared blocks that they can’t place new ones, or when they run out of time.

The presentation here is pretty simple, using 2D visuals with a black background, and backed by repetitive synthesized music. It’s nothing especially compelling, but it’s perfectly clear what each type of block is, which works well enough for the gameplay.

As for that gameplay… you know, I sometimes say in my reviews of Puzzle games that this or that Puzzle game is decent, but lacks that truly compelling quality I look for in a Puzzle game. Energy Chain has that quality. I found myself playing this game for hours, only forcing myself to stop so I could turn my attention to other games I needed to review (as well as writing this review).

It’s surprisingly fun trying to find ways to make these multicolored blocks fit in a way that creates an electrical pathway, or trying to force the path to go an odd direction to clear out blocks that have been in my way. The game does occasionally help you out by giving you additional single-use dynamos to help clear out blocks that might otherwise fail to connect with a second dynamo on their own, and this makes for a good respite from the game’s challenge, and alternately you occasionally get larger pieces to try to fit in, and then the game really throws a wrench into things when it introduces a new block color.

Really, my biggest complaint about Energy Chain is that, as with so many other games in the G.G Series line of game releases, this game is sorely lacking features. There’s no touchscreen support, no multiplayer, no puzzle mode, no alternate stage layouts… all you get here is a standard endless mode, and that’s it.

Still, as feature-poor as Energy Chain may be, for its low price of $2 I would go as far as to say this is still a must-have Puzzle game for any fans of the genre with a Nintendo 3DS. What it lacks in features, it more than makes up for with exceptional Puzzle gameplay. Make sure to grab this one up before the Nintendo 3DS eShop closes in March 2023 (later this month!).

tl;dr – Energy Chain is a Puzzle game where players place multicolored blocks on a board to try to form a circuit between two of the board’s electrical “dynamos”. This game isn’t very flashy, and it’s sorely lacking in features, but the gameplay is surprisingly compelling, and that combined with the $2 price tag makes this a game that I think every Puzzle game fan with a Nintendo 3DS needs to make sure to pick up before the Nintendo 3DS eShop closes in March 2023 (later this month!)

Grade: A-

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