Simple can be pretty slick, or at least FRVR's puzzle game Untangle proves that you can be both. All you need to do in each nineteen levels is, as the title implies, click and drag the dots to untangle the lines onscreen so that none of them overlap. It's the sort of thing that's been done before, usually relegated to minigame status in larger titles, but Untangled's elegant, minimalistic presentation (not to mention melodic soundtrack) proves that it works just fine as a casual puzzle game on its own, albeit without any real bells and whistles to speak of. If you need more variety, Untangle's straightforward approach might lose its luster early on, though its snarled levels do get tricky early on. If what you're looking for is a mellow puzzle game that scratches that particular itch of "weirdly satisfying to tidy up, intensely frustrating to get there", Untangle's slew of knotted starry skeins is just what the doctor ordered. After all, how hard could it be... ?
Oh here we go, a puzzle game that requires you to use your brain. Time to sharpen my mind!
This is Planarity redux. Only difference: levels are a bit easier, and the game tells you when you have completed a level. Planarity drove me 'round the bend, too. Anyone have a strategy?
My strategy for these untangle games is to find a node with a lot of branches and move it to the middle and move all other nodes around the border. Then work your way from the center node out.
A hint, sort of: Triangles on their own are "rigid" and form good frames. Find a triangle containing vertices of high degree (i.e. highly connected dots). Such triangles tend to be "large", so I place them on the outside and then work inward to fill their interior nicely.
A beautiful game based around a simple premise is elegant and well executed. However it is not compelling and lacks the satisfaction of similar logic games. A solid yet strangely unfulfilling game.
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