Animal Puzzle World

Genre: Arcade

Players: 1-4 Co-Op (Local)

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in multiple bundles. I highly recommend you compare and contrast bundle contents using the handy chart on this page.)

Animal Puzzle World is an Arcade-style game (no, not a Puzzle game) released on Nintendo Switch in 2023. This game is virtually identical to Animal Puzzle Cats and Nature Puzzle save for the pictures hidden behind each of the game’s levels, and as such I will be copy-pasting almost the entirety of this review’s comments into all three reviews. All three games feature gameplay pulled straight out of the classic game Qix. As always when this sort of thing happens, it doesn’t bother me so much that the game is an unoriginal copycat, so long as it’s a good copycat. So the question then becomes, is this a good copycat?

The presentation in this game is okay but not great, featuring cartoony 2D visuals that looks as though they came right out of a mobile game, backed by subdued synthesized music that doesn’t really seem to match the goofy tone of the visuals, but is otherwise okay. And in Animal Puzzle World specifically, as you play the game you’ll be revealing nice-looking photographs of various animals.

The majority of the Qix formula is still present here – you move a cursor around the edges of the play field, and can venture out into the middle of the field, drawing a line behind you. Connecting the line to the edge of the field or a filled-in shape will fill in the shape you’re drawing, reducing the middle field’s size and allowing you to move along the shape’s edge. However, in the center of the field is an enemy that will kill you if they touch you or the line you’re drawing, and there are enemies patrolling the edges of the field so you’re not safe there either. Ultimately, you’re working toward the goal of covering the majority of the field with filled-in shapes while avoiding enemies. It may sound complicated, but in terms of gameplay it’s extremely simple.

This game does manage to add a few interesting ideas to this formula, such as different enemy types that patrol the field in different ways that make for different kinds of threats. In addition, completing a shape with one of the border-crawling enemies inside kills them. These changes make for some strong potential in this take on the formula.

Unfortunately, that potential is ruined by this game’s terrible controls. Repeatedly, I had the game push me off in the wrong direction when I was holding a different direction on the D-Pad. I tried changing to using the analog stick, but had the same problem. These busted controls killed me time and time again. As if that wasn’t bad enough, your cursor in this game is far too big, covering up the area you’re traversing over and making it impossible to see if there are any bumps or dips in that path that could be keeping you from progressing.

In addition, while the original Qix punished players who stayed out on the field too long before completing a shape by sending an enemy down the line they’re drawing, this game takes this mechanic and pushes it into overdrive, meaning that even hesitating for a brief moment when drawing a shape can kill you.

All of this stuff combines to make Animal Puzzle World a spin on the Qix formula that seems like it has a lot of potential, but which will constantly be killing you even when it seems like you’re doing everything right. As a result, this game simply is not fun, and I can’t recommend it, even if you’re a fan of Qix.

tl;dr – Animal Puzzle World is an Arcade-style game that copies the Qix gameplay formula of drawing lines to create shapes to fill in the screen while avoiding enemies. This game even brings some good ideas to this classic gameplay, but then it ruins them with terrible controls and other issues that will result in players repeatedly getting killed due to stuff out of their control. This game had the potential to be so much better, but with these problems I simply cannot recommend this to anyone.

Grade: D+

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