6 of 10

Write now Article Tools

Software Review: Xena Sola

Rating: 1/5

The Good: The graphics were pleasant, if a bit tiny on an older-style screen. The initial character pictures are high quality and motivating. Game play is relatively quick, but with enough time programmed into the machine play that the human play need not feel like a slightly slow, younger sibling to the machine players. The multiple short periods of play available on the demo was a refreshing idea, allowing the player to work at becoming familiar with the game. The game is different in concept from some more recent games, but reminds me of a pipe-laying game from a number of years back, so even one of Xna Sola's strong points really only earns about a C+ in my grading book.

The Bad: The road to grow familiar with the game is just too long and too hard. What the programmer apparently felt was intuitive instead was a mystery. What are you trying to achieve? How does it work? The game play was very confusing initially. The tutorial and help page is virtually non-existent, and I found that it provided very little clarification of play flow, strategy, or even how the point system worked. Eventually, the "circuit completion" became clear from watching the flow of the computer players, but some hints on play or some real-time move advice for new players would go a long way to introducing this game to the player. On my particular machine, parts of the play took place off screen but I could not scroll down to take advantage of those portions of the board play. Sound was fairly uninteresting, harkening back to background blips and hold music. Also, what the graphics are interesting, they are small enough that large portions of the population would need their reading glasses out to verify what the payer is dropping where. While there are zoom functions, it is unwieldy and slows down the rate of play.

The Bottom Line: All in all, this game was more frustrating than intriguing or exhilarating. Although designers need to leave a certain amount of puzzle-game play to the player to figure out, the lack of illumination was excessive on this game, because it leaves the player in the dark from start to finish. My demo time left me with no urge to buy this game. Bejewled, I return to thee cured of my wanderlust!

Learn more about this author, Beth Coughlin.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about Downloadable game reviews: Xena Sola?
We want to hear your view. Write now!