Welcome to our review of the game called Levels+, out now on Switch eShop!
As a disclaimer, I love puzzle games and this is one heck of a puzzle game/
The main point of this game, move around tiles on a set layout, merging tiles, scoring points and preventing the board from getting stuck.
Sounds easy? Well, it is not, this is a surprisingly hard puzzle game, one where you need to keep strategy in mind in order to score bigger points.
Let me explain the main idea behind the game, you have 3 different colors and it all comes down to merging the same values of these tiles. Red colored tiles are the enemy, while yellow is all about getting extra points for that high score you will keep wanting to beat and then blue, which is basically your color. Complicated yet? Well, it is actually simple. Merge a yellow or blue tile with the same color and the number on the tile goes up.
As you level up your tiles, you need to keep in mind that blue tiles are your tiles and they can beat out all other colors as long as the number on the blue tile is the same value or higher. While overtaking a yellow tile will give you extra points, it is mostly the red tiles that you need to overtake as you can not move them at all. Without overtaking the red tiles, before you know it, the board is filled up with the red color and the game ends when you stop being able to overtake a single tile.
In itself, this game is easy to understand, merge yellow tiles to get higher scores and make sure you perform combos to overtake the red tiles so you keep that maneuverability throughout the game, which is where it becomes a little harder. You can also always overtake any yellow tile with a lower base value with any blue tile of the same value of higher, this in a combo as well, you can easily use a blue 8 tile to overtake 5 yellow tiles, but let me clarify bits and pieces of that as strategy comes into play!
The strategy is the most important part of this game. Do not just merge 2 random blue titles or yellow tiles, make sure they do not end up blocking your way for an even better combo. Another thing I found out, the game often gives you some tips after you finish a game, one of the most valuable I have gotten, is that you can not just move your highest tiles to the side of the board as this limits their maneuverability.
Each time I play this game, I am trying out more approaches to get higher numbered blue tiles or yellow ones! I am always finding myself aiming for that high score, which is becoming a small obsession and that is quite amazing to realize this game keeps dragging me back into playing it. And yes, I have put aside that other big game coming out this week to go back to this game.
And there is so much more to find out, like what is that Thunder bolt they keep mentioning, I loved the reveal of that one.
The only downside to this game and you will probably think I am being paranoid about this point, but this game feels like I would play it even more often on my smartphone… I can not shake the impression this would be more suited to be a mobile game, I know it sounds stupid, the Switch being portable and all. This is just my humble impression of this game.
In conclusion, this game is pretty awesome and might be ignored due to the amazing firepower the Switch is seeing this week with both Splatoon and Fate/Extella, but really, give it a try, at a mere 5 Euro, I consider this game a must buy for any puzzle enthusiast!
I am giving this game a very high 90% rating!
