Puz: Solid Spheres [by Addictive 247]

Game: Solid Spheres
Release: April 4, 2003
Genre: Puzzle
Developer: Addictive 247
System Requirements: Windows 95, 98, NT, ME, 2000 or XP, Pentium 200 or higher, 5MB Hard Drive Space, 32MB RAM (64MB Recommended), 16-bit sound card
Price: $19.95


Addictive 247, a two year old shareware company, based in the United Kingdom, with six titles under its belt has done it again. Addictive 247 has released Solid Spheres in which they have taken the simple game of peg solitaire and brought it into the digital age.

Everybody remembers peg solitaire, right? Back in the day of piling in the car and heading to Florida with the family, we would stop at “Stuckeys” or some other roadside establishment and inevitably there would be little peg solitaire game board at each table. I remember my mom used to think I was so smart because I could always remove all the golf tees from the little wood play board. Ok.. so much for the happy memories.. back to reality.

The game play for Solid Spheres is very simple. Each level has three-dimensional spheres laid out in a varying pattern of squares where the immediate objective of the game is to select one sphere, jump over another sphere thereby removing the jumped over sphere from play. The ultimate objective for each level is to remove all spheres from the game surface leaving one lone sphere or no spheres at all.

Addictive 247 has deviated from the original scope of play for peg solitaire by adding features including 65 levels, special action squares and great graphics as well as a drum and base soundtrack.

Downloading the game .zip file was a breeze at only 1.2MB. Extraction and installing the program went without a hitch. I am always pleasantly surprised when a game downloads/installs/launches flawlessly. Why the conglomerate publishers are not able to get this set of actions to work on a consistent basis is beyond me. As an example, I have tried 12 times to install Final Fantasy Online in numerous configurations without any luck.

After the game is loaded, the game launch screen comes up providing the very intuitive options of “Tutorial”, “Start”, “Level Editor” and “Options”. The options of course includes the all important “Boss Alert”.

Solid Spheres consists of 65 different levels broken into easy, novice, normal, hard, and extreme difficulty levels. Levels 1 through 10 are easy, 11 through 20 are novice, 21 through 30 are normal, 31 through 45 are hard and 46 through 65 are extreme.

The game action is good. There are explosions galore, every time you jump a sphere. “BAM!” away it goes in a cloud of orange fire. Jump on those special squares and there are even larger explosions as multiple spheres explode in unison/sequence. As the levels increase in difficulty “special” tiles are added such as the “star” tile, that when landed upon, all tiles that are in a diagonal alignment with the star tile are blown up.

If you get frustrated by a level, no worries, Addictive has provided two helpful options. The first option is pressing the “(H)elp” key which initiates a pop-up screen with a clue inside to assist you in your game play. The second option is to go and play a different level. That is right! You have the option to play all levels at any time you want and in any order you desire. No more “Save Game” requests. Each time you complete a level a checkmark is placed against that level as completed so when you come back four months later you will see that you were never able to figure out level 38.

I thought at first there was only one solution to each game and for some levels there are, but for a number of levels there appear to be multiple solutions, even though there may be a single general solution concept or key sequence of game play required. My strategy for Solid Spheres is not just dive right into a level and start blowing up spheres but to look at the puzzle and attempt to “see” the solution or a pattern that may fit the solution. I found that if I just started randomly eliminating spheres, I was not being effective in determining the solution and hence clearing the board.

An added feature of Solid Sphere is the ability to create your own game surfaces and share them with friends. The level editor is fantastically easy to use. Just click drag and drop your selection on the board. Once you are done, type a name into the space provided and press “save”. I notice, however, that when you press “save” there is no click or other identification of saving. Also, when loading a game you have to know the name of the custom game within your file system. There is no pick list available.

I went looking for player made surfaces, but was not able to find them on 247’s website or elsewhere. Get Solid Spheres, play it, make surfaces and bug 247 to post them.

Graphics 9
Graphics are great. The background is a sea of multi-level cubes. The use of 3d assets and elements brings the game alive. The graphical representation of the explosions is very similar to those from maybe “Starcraft” or one of those other isometric war games.

Sound 10
The sound is great. Addictive247 has put a nice drum and base soundtrack to the game. There is such great music out there and it is a pleasure to see it used in a game.

Game Play 9
Very straightforward game play, easy to pick up and play, the fact there is no save button required and any particular level can be replayed at any time is fantastic.

Options 8
Solid Spheres has two great options, a level editor and the ability play the 40 levels included out of sequence.

Concept 8
Addictive 247 has taken a simple game idea and evolved it. Yea there are lots of peg solitaire games out there, but why not play this one which gives you added features as well as some nice eye candy.

Fun 9
Solitaire is Solitaire. This is one of those games you play to wile away the time waiting for your next appointment or some friend to show up. How many games of solitaire have you played? Lots right? Isn’t time you tried something new like Solid Spheres?

Overall 9
Solid Spheres is a solid and well prepared game from Addictive 247, there are no failed expectations here.

Reviewer’s System: AMD 1400Mhz 512MB RAM, Windows XP, Albatron-Geforce Ti-4280 128MB,
Added: December 19th 2003
Reviewer: GameDogma
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Related Link: Official Website
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