Review time again.  This week, we’ve been taking a look at another puzzle game, this time Connectoo by Rudolf Halmi.  ConnecToo involves connecting a number of blocks of colour with another block of the same colour on a grid.  You draw a path on the grid between two similarly coloured blocks to join them up, but you need to plan carefully as you need to leave yourself a clear path to join the other blocks on the grid and you only have a limited amount of time to do it.  Here’s the official description from the Android Market-

ConnecToo is a game of logic, fast thinking and perception.  Goal of every game is to connect every two elements of same color.  No problem, right?  Well, the problem is, that lines you draw cannot cross each other, you are limited to grid and moreover you have time running fast.

Trust me, the explanation of the gameplay is more complicated than the reality as the game mechanics are very straightforward.

Graphically, the game is bright and colourful, but feels a little basic and functional.  It’s certainly not painful to look at though and doesn’t have that “hand-drawn by a 7-year old” feel to it that many Android games do.

Gameplay is simple enough to pick up, but tricky to master; the correct approach to the various puzzles is unclear more often than not.  Also, some of the levels seem nigh on impossible at first look, and this just exacerbates one of my biggest gripes with the game: not completing a level in time.  If you fail to complete a level you’ve been staring at within the alloted time limit, you lose a life.   Fair enough,  but you’re then frustratingly moved on to another grid.  Why can’t we just carry on at the grid we’ve been fiddling with and, presumably, getting closer to solving?  It’s not a particularly forgiving game.

The short time limit, however, does add an interesting element of pressure which is undoubtedly essential for a game such as this; to be blunt, without the time limit, this game mechanic would be hugely boring after completing a handful of grids, but the tension caused by the ever ticking clock you have to race against lifts the whole concept out of the realms of tedium.

Overall, this is a commendable effort from an independent developer.  It’s not my cup of tea, and I’m not convinced that it’s got much longevity past a handful of plays before it’s consigned to the uninstall bin.  But it’s obvious to me that there will be plenty of people out there who do like the challenge it offers and, with such a simple premise, there is scope for the developer to add new gameplay mechanisms and other interesting twists.

If you’re interested in this game, there’s a free demo version which you can take for a test drive before stumping up the £0.99 for the full game.