Nintendo Okie

Howdy:

• Nice combination of puzzle and collection.
• Bright, colorful backgrounds are attractive.
• Easy to understand, fun mini-games break up the action.

See Ya’:

• Asking price might be a bit high at 1,000 points.
• No second player option, or multiplayer of any kind.

It’s getting close to a holiday and that means themed games are on their way.  JV Games, the folks behind Incoming! and Pong Toss! Frat Party Games, are the first to market with their Christmas themed game Christmas Clix.

Christmas Clix is, at first glance, a match three game similar to ones you’ve seen hundreds of times before.  Quickly after booting up the game, though, you find out that’s not necessarily the case.  The object of the game is to remove the presents that Santa is throwing onto the play field by matching up two or more presents of the same color.  This will cause you to begin filling up a Christmas tree with decorations.  Decorate the tree completely and you’ve completed the level.  You can match these presents in a number of ways such as vertically, horizontally, diagonally or square shaped by clicking two presents on opposite sides of the shape you’re creating.

The game starts off fairly easily with a small number of colors to match up by pointing at them with the Wii Remote and pressing A.  The game then begins to slowly add new colors as well as ornaments.  These ornaments are essentially the same as the presents except that they don’t need to be touching to be matched and only two can be matched at any one time.  As you’re matching these presents they drop candy canes that you can collect.  Collecting these striped confections fills up two meters on the right side of the screen; the star meter and the nutcracker meter.   The star meter, when filled, will send a star onto the level that will grant you the use of one random power up.  These can be anything from snowballs that you can use like grenades to clear large areas of the playfield, or the gingerbread man who will explode into four directions taking out anything in it’s path.  My favorite power up, though, has to be the bombardier which will send in a squadron of bombers in that drop colored candy onto your presents destroying them and filling the screen with coins and candy canes.

Filling up the nutcracker meter will cause a nutcracker to show up in the playfield.  Clicking on the nutcracker will pause the action and send you to a random mini-game.  These range from breakout clones to a simple matching game.  They break up the potential monotony of clicking on presents and present you with what is usually a fun break in the action and a chance to breath a little bit.  There are 10 mini-games in all and most of them are simple enough to figure out.  One has you pressing a button to stop a string of lights directly on a particular light, another is a breakout clone where you use a snowball to break blocks of ice.  One has you moving a stocking around at the bottom of the screen catching falling candy canes.  They’re a nice change in the pace of the game and don’t take very long to finish.  Performing well in these mini-games will award you with large point bonuses and after you’ve played them once in the campaign they are unlocked and you can play them at any time.

The game is a lot more involved than your standard match three style puzzle game, while you’re trying to match colored presents together by clicking on them you are also trying to collect all the candy and coins that fall from the presents and directly controlling some of the power ups.  The coins and candy canes are used to fill up your meters and to give you points at the end of the level.  It can get hectic trying to do all that at once, but as soon as you figure it out it becomes almost second nature.  For people who like to compete with friends over scores you’ll have to do this one by email.  It has the option in the game, but it does not compare scores outside the local option.

Christmas Clix uses an art style similar to JV Games’ previous outing Incoming! That simply means that it uses a cartoonish style that drips with cuteness and color.  Each of the game’s 20 worlds has some unique feature to it’s background like snowmen, or rainbows, or candy canes.  They are fairly easy to discern from the map and provide a bit of color to the game board.  They don’t affect game play in any way other than there being more items to watch for in the later levels.  As you’re playing through these colorful areas you’ll be listening to jazzy versions of a number of Christmas classics and it just gets you in the mood for the holidays.

JV Games has provided a nice solution for people looking for puzzle games on the Wii.  The game’s pace and difficulty curve are easy to understand and will provide a good 4 hours or so of game play to finish the main campaign’s 100 levels once through.  It would have been nice to include the option for a second player who could collect all the falling candy as you’re matching up presents, but it’s not necessary.  The price might be the only barrier to entry as it seems a little high for what you’re getting.  There’s a good game here, but it would have been an even easier recommendation if it was 600 or 700 Wii Points rather than the 1,000 they’re asking for.  Still, if you’re looking for a good puzzle game, Christmas Clix might be one you want to check out .

Final Score: 3/5 Average

Review copy of the game provided by JV Games.