Chromatron

By: Guest Reviewer

On: June 13th, 2007

[Guest review by Haowan]

Chromatron is a free Windows puzzle game that implements the time-honoured laser-beam-and-mirrors game and then runs with it.

There are four games in the series, each containing 50 puzzles. The first game is free. Each puzzle consists of some fixed lasers and some fixed targets. The targets must be lit by the lasers. You have at your disposal an array of mirrors and later other tools to change the direction and behaviour of the laser beams in order to hit those targets. When you pass a level, you may unlock more than one extra level, allowing you to skip past levels you can’t figure out and move on to a fresh challenge.

The best thing about these games, apart from the simplicity of their interface and implementation, is how later on the levels become absolutely mind-boggling. I’m not simply talking about mirrors here – slowly introduced are splitters, prisms, doppler shifters (turning red to green, green to blue, blue to red), and the mother of all foul nightmares, the Quantum Tangler. Later games introduce even more pieces.

At times this game will make you cry, but don’t be tempted to look for hints and solutions. You’ll regret it later. Just leave that level and move on. You can save potential solutions by using Windows copy and paste (copy copies a string to the clipboard so you can paste it into a text file (or IM window heh) and you can reverse the process to restore a solution).

You can buy the whole bundle of Chromatron 2, 3 and 4 for a mere $20.