Browser Games 13

Lucky thirteen. This is the 13th trio of browser based logic/puzzle games which I have covered. As I have said before, developing for flash, shockwave, and java (one of each this week) is fairly easy and lightweight. This allows a developer/programmer to get a game with a good puzzle idea and some good puzzles out there quickly. On the downside, over time, the ads have gotten more annoying.

This week, all three games involve matching colors (or colours).

Colourshift



Colourshift is an amazing reworking of the classic game NetWalk. By rotating the network tiles, you have to connect each circular light with a power source of the game color. Twist one: there are multiple colors. Twist two: in Aargon style, the power sources come in the three primary colors: red, green, and blue. Sometimes you have to combine sources to produce desired colors for lights. For example, blue and green make cyan. Twist three: starting at level 20, the game is being played on a torus. Using the arrow keys, you choose how to cut the torus and unwrap it into a square.

Twist three, which is call warping in the game, makes Colourshift a much more difficult game than NetWalk. You do not have the crutch of the edge to start.

I believe that there are 200 levels in total which have to be completed in order. I have only personally completed the first 80.

Tantrix



Tantrix is one of my favorite physical puzzles. I have given many sets as Christmas presents over the years. The puzzle is to arrange hexagonal tiles 1 to n so that one color forms a closed loop and any other colors match at any adjacent tiles. It is a very enjoyable puzzle due in large part that the tiles have a nice tactile feel. Later, the Tantrix was extended into a two-player game. It is not a very good game. This is a shockwave version of both the single-player puzzles and the two-player game. It is quite well done.

Socolor



Socolor is a sokoban variant with the goal being to push all of the squares (boxes, crates, whatever term you prefer for the sokoban object) of the same color together. It requires java and comes with 50 levels. If you prefer Flash, try Lightforce.