-R-

By: ithamore

On: May 19th, 2010

There are many match-4 games out there and some are more diverse than most, but -R- (download from Vector) has a unique mechanic added to it to make its puzzles more interesting: the screen can be rotated to allow the blocks to fall into new positions. The objective is to clear the screen of blocks through a combination of dropping in new blocks and of rotations.

The shortest number of moves necessary to beat a stage is tauntingly displayed to the right (solving stages becomes more difficult with each progressive level), but there is no punishment for not attaining the shortest score, which is clearly part of what MithrilWorks had in mind for the -R- experience. The game was designed to be as non-confrontational as possible. The pleasant music, the soft color scheme, and the lack of restrictions remove many of the tradition conflict and tension mechanisms relied upon to pull in the player. However, t isn’t as though there is no challenge to the game: trying to solve some stages can be frustrating, especially in the last two levels.

Although the instructions in the readme and the included pdf manual are in Japanese, the in-game text is in English. As for the controls: S drops blocks and is use to select in the menus, Z rotates the screen (in combination of use with the arrows) and it is cancel in the menus, A brings up the block selection wheel that is navigated by the left and right arrows, X and C can rotate the wheel (but I found them too fast), and W brings up a scroll of past movements that can be selected to undo past attempts. Also, if you enjoy the music the OST with a bonus track is available.