Take it Easy iPad edition

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mza_8205725067205743194.320x480-75[1]By Paco Garcia Jaen

Almost 30 years after this game was designed by Peter Burley, it is given a digital makeover and brought to a tablet near you.

I am not particularly fond of puzzle games. Not because I don’t enjoy them, but because it’s hard for me to get away from them once I start. This one is no exception.

Take It Easy is a very simple puzzle game. The aim of the game is to create straight lines of different colours, with each colour having a different value. The board is a hexagonal board and the pieces have a combination of three lines at an angle, each line of a colour. Place the pieces in the right location, create lines and score points. The trick is that, once the hexagons are placed on the table/screen, you can’t move them or rotate them, so forward thinking can be very handy!

The graphics are lovely. Very colourful and everything is so clearly laid out, that you barely need the tutorial to know what you’re meant to do.

The game can be played against the machine or in multiplayer. I haven’t had the chance to play multiplayer yet, so will only review the single player mode.

Three modes are available: Classic, Progressive and Puzzle.

In classic mode you just try to score as many points as possible by placing the hexagons in the right place an form the longest possible lines with the highest possible value. Easier said than done!

Puzzle mode gives you a few challenges, like having to get a number of points, create a number of lines of  specific length or value.

Last, but not least, progressive mode will challenge you to reach a score in a limited time. Do it quicker than the allocated time, and you get the time left as a bonus for your next puzzle.

Conclusion

The simplicity of this game is genius. The fact that it is as accessible and enjoyable for an adult, as it is for children means this game should be in any mobile device. The joyful frustration of finding the piece you need just when you have placed the previous one in the wrong place is frustrating and hilarious at the same time.

With puzzles solved in as little as a few seconds, this is a game you can come back to time and time again without having to spend any time at all. Perfect for when you are waiting in the queue of the cinema to get your ticket or at the super-market while the person in front of you gets the shopping bagged and ready to go home.

Tons of achievements to be unlocked do expand the life of this game quite considerably and I can’t wait to see what else future releases of this game will come up with!

Yep, this game, and the 4 stars I give it, will be in my iPad for a very, very long time!

 

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