Puzzle Antics Abound

Puzzle Colony is not deceiving itself with airs of high quality. There are no pretentions to being among the best Android games. And it is not out there to rank amongst the best pirate-theme games. It’s just there to be a pirate-themed game. This is definitely part of the appeal. The graphics are cutesy, the music is whimsical, and there are no pretentions to plot. All in all, the right ingredients for a good way to kill time. There is no tutorial for Puzzle Colony, which is neither a surprise, nor a problem. More and more mobile games are forgoing tutorials for the sake of putting players right into the game. Puzzle Colony follows this philosophy. Barely a storyline is presented before players are given control of settlements, resources, pirate ships and crew. Player’s ship and crew fight undead pirates for experience and treasure. Experience and treasures unlocks resources, and resources grow cities. Cities feed the ship and crew so they can fight more undead pirates. An easy cycle that becomes more complex as players take each scenario. Hiring lieutenants helps provide combat or city perks, depending on where players station them. And enemies provide a good variety of difficulty.

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What Puzzle Colony sacrifices in plot it makes up for in sheer activity mass: match-3 mini-games, resource management, city-building, character leveling and exploration and navigation. It is a lot of information for even pro casual players to monitor. It’s not a major ding; it provides a cacophony of activity to keep players engaged. All that being said, some players might be distracted by a disorderly navigation system, and laggy match-3 mini-games. It’s a weakness to the game’s playability. But not an unfixable one. Hopefully future patches and updates correct the lagging games and a hard to maneuver map. Because, otherwise, there is a lot of fun to be found in this little treasure, and a lot of ways to kill zombie pirates and free time.

Germany based publisher, Fun Flavor Games, does not have a large stock of games available on mobile app stores. However, what they do have maintains solid ratings and good reviews. While there is much the developers could do to improve Puzzle Colony, they are definitely off to a good start with the wind in their sails.