Aenigma Os (Wii U) Review

Some genres have some very common elements in them found in several games, often for good reasons. The tile-matching formula is one of these. It is simple, fun and addictive. One problem, though, is that it is a really simple genre that offers very little to think about after a while. This is something Aenigna Os wants to change!

Many games in this genre have their specific twists. Some allow unlimited movement, others have a lot of power-ups to keep in mind, but Aenigma Os removes a lot of these elements and is fully focused around finding lines of three or more symbols to match up. However, there can also be one or two spaces between them. This gameplay choice means that there becomes great focus in how to remove some of the lines, and it creates the possibility of extremely long lines, as they do not automatically disappear once made.

How this can affect the choices of the player is very different depending on the various modes found within. The most common and basic one is the "High" mode in which the goal is to score as high as possible within the time limit. In here, it is highly rewarded to create full lines, instead of multiple small lines or lines with holes in them. This mode puts heavy emphasis on planning the moves ahead by quite a bit, which creates some highly entertaining brain training. The other modes follow suit, with the most remarkable one being the puzzle mode in which the player has to remove all symbols in a set number of moves by utilising the game's very weird rules and take on the genre. This is very fun and can sometimes be pretty challenging, while still maintaining the core of the game: to plan ahead.

This aspect makes Aenigma Os a really strong puzzle title. The main thing it suffers from, however, is that, besides some new rules, it feels extremely similar to many other games in the modern puzzle genre, especially smartphone titles. The gameplay is not home console friendly, and while the Wii U has its own touchscreen, this is truly a title that is best played on the go rather than in long sessions, which is usually the case when played at home from the couch.