Headshot Radio - Video Game Shenanigans

I’m a self-admitted puzzle gamer. I like all sorts of games, but for some reason puzzle games just seem to find their way into my collection. Before I know it I’ve got more than I know what to do with.

When TiQal by Slapdash Games came out on XBLA, I was surprised because it came out of nowhere, plus I didn’t know how to pronounce it. To be honest, I still don’t know to pronounce it. That didn’t stop me from trying out the demo and then buying it immediately though.

My first impression was that this was somehow a mutation of my beloved Lumines. I’ve been playing Lumines for years, so I figured Lumines with power-ups would be a great idea. I was very wrong when I pegged this game to be like Lumines though, as the two are as different as Street Fighter and Primal Rage. Unfortunately TiQal is more akin to Primal Rage than Street Fighter in this comparison, and in more ways than one too. I found myself screaming at the game during its lengthy single-player campaign because the controls are about as bad as those in Primal Rage. You may think that because you only use a couple of buttons it can’t be that bad, but the issue is with the analog stick. Don’t even jest about playing the game with the D-pad either, that’s like playing frisbee with a dog with a muzzle.

Don’t get me wrong, the overall game is good and fun, but I’ve got three strikes against this game. First, the analog stick that you use to control where you drop your pieces isn’t nearly as sensitive as it needs to be. I can’t count the number if times I wanted to move my piece one notch to the left or right, and it would move two or even three times in that direction and cost me a life. In a game like this where time is of the essence, there is no excuse for shoddy programming like this. Strike two comes in the way your pieces are given to you. While the preview box indeed shows the next piece you’re going to get to use, it doesn’t show the angle at which the piece is given to you. The best way to describe this is to say that you’re shown a “|” piece in your preview box, but when it actually comes time to use the piece, it’s turned so that that “|” piece is now a “__” piece. The piece has somehow turned sideways, even though the last piece you used may have been given to you exactly how the preview was shown. It basically amounts to taking up too much time, because you have to check each piece in your preview box and your current-piece box. While you’re doing this, you also have to look at the playing field and see where you actually need to drop your piece. Somehow Slapdash Games seems to be a fitting name for the developer.

The third and final strike comes in the form of unthinkable blocks. In a puzzle game of this type, you’d think you’ve seen all the different types of blocks that you can use, but TiQal throws a couple in the mix that you can almost never use effectively. Two of the most annoying pieces come in the shapes of a “U”, and a hollowed-out square. I’m not sure what the developers were thinking when they came up with these pieces, but they’re usually more of a burden than a blessing, especially the hollowed-out square piece. There is just no way you can utilize each part of the block, since there is a gaping hole in the middle of the piece that prevents the top from creating any matches with anything else on the playing field at that time.

It sounds like I have nothing but bad things to say about this game, but that’s not true at all. For a ten-dollar game, you definitely get your money’s worth. There are over one hundred stages in the single-player game, and at first it seems like you’re going to blaze through the entire thing. The last thirty stages ramp up the difficulty though, and they can take a good amount of time to complete. The power-ups in the game are original and fun, and there are a lot at your disposal. And personally, I just like the idea of something “new” like this in the puzzle genre. Rarely can you say you’ve played a puzzle game that’s not like anything else you’ve played. This is one of those games.

Overall, the game is decent, but it’s certainly not without its flaws. You get a lot of game for your money, and it’s genuinely fun.

Best Qualities – You certainly get your money’s worth. Creative idea and theme. Power-ups are cool.

Worst Qualities – Controls. They’re BAD. Last ten or so levels are extremely hard. Odd blocks. Finale is unfulfilling.

Achievement Information – 200 available, and most of them are attained as you run through the single player mode. 15 points are glitched and unattainable as of this writing however, so the real total is actually 185 points.

Completion Time – Much longer than I had imagined it would be, over 10 hours.

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